


Quake

by modernVictoria



Series: Steve x Daisy [1]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Character Death Fix, Fluff and Angst, Grief/Mourning, I'm Bad At Summaries, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Slow Burn, post s02ep10
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-15
Updated: 2016-05-08
Packaged: 2018-04-14 21:27:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 25
Words: 27,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4580727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/modernVictoria/pseuds/modernVictoria
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Puerto Rico and the reveal of Skye's powers to the team, Coulson decides SHIELD's not capable of helping Skye and calls The Avengers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Nightmares

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic ever and I'm still kinda learning how to write them.  
> Also I want to say English isn't my first language (You probably noticed it already...) so if there are any mistakes, just tell me so I can fix them.  
> I have a slight idea where I want to go with this story so I'll try to write and update pretty often (Don't hate on me if I don't).  
> In the beginning I depict Ward as the bad guy, but I want to write him a redemption arc because, come on, Brett Dalton deserves better than this.  
> So yeah, enjoy it, I guess?

“Skye”, I heard a distant voice shout,”Skye, wake up! You’re making the plane shake!!”  
I knew that voice. It sounded... familiar. I searched for the source, but as I turned the room went dark. Better darkness than seeing Ward’s face and his pshycho smile again.  
“Skye? Do you hear me?? You need to wake up” Again the voice, But what was he telling me? I only heard faint shouting. Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder, forcing me to turn and meet his eyes. Only to find myself staring in HIS eyes.  
“NO!”, I made a step backwards,”Leave me alone!”  
“why would I leave my own daughter alone?”, He took a step forward, Backing me up against a wall. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t escape. 

I – Was back in the cell in my makeshift bed with Coulson staring at me with his lost puppy eyes.  
“Skye, you were having a nightmare.” He tapped my leg, signaling me to sit. I did so and he sat next to me, placing a hand on my upper back. He was making circle motions in an effort to comfort me. Just his presence could make me relax.  
“Are you okay?” I turned my head to the door. Jemma was standing in the doorway, a medical kit in her hands.  
“I called Jemma in to make sure you were okay” Coulson told me. I lifted the corner of my mouth in response. Speaking was too hard at the moment.  
Jemma came to me and began asking if I was hurt. I shook my head.  
“Clearly I underestimated your condition” I winced as she said that last word. “We’re clearly not capable of helping you, Skye.”  
She looked to Coulson. I noticed how they were having a silent conversation, debating if they should tell me or not. Finally Coulson stood up and cleared his throat.  
“I’ll call them tonight”, He said after a moment. I had no idea who he was talking about.


	2. Meetings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tadaaa another chapter!! Well I wrote three already, because I'm gone for two weeks... and after that school starts again (I don't live in America so I don't really know when your school year starts but here, school starts the first of september).  
> I'll try to write while I'm on holiday, but it'll be harder because I won't have acces to a computer.   
> I will have to do it Old School style with a pen and a paper.

I was on the quinn-jet heading to New York. I made my goodbyes before I got on. It was the hardest with Fitz and Simmons: they were like siblings to me. Coulson was strapped in next to me and May was in the cockpit. We were both munching on some twizzler’s, ignoring the elephant in the room. After several more minutes, Coulson finally spoke up.  
“If you were wondering, yes, they were mad. But they have every right to be. I faked my death for three years... But sooner or later the confrontation would come and I’m happy they still accepted to meet us.” He sighed. I put my hand on his and tried my best to give him a smile.  
“Landing in 5 minutes”, May said as she broke the tension.  
I was meeting the Avengers in five minutes. In any other situation I would be excited, but right now the only feeling I had was tiredness and I’m not even sure that’s a feeling.  
Perhaps the litlle orphan girl who was in me was still excited to meet them. To meet the heroes, the legends, the ones who showed that girl that even if you had nothing, you could still achieve great things.  
I felt the Quinn-jet descend and slowly the cargo hold opened. I removed myself from my seat and followed May and Coulson down the ramp.  
Even if I was biologically related to that psycho of a Cal, I always saw May and Coulson as parent figures. The parents I never had. I never told them, I was too afraid. But some part of me believed that Coulson saw me as his adoptive daughter.  
I was taken from my thoughts at the sight of Tony Stark (Oh my god!! Tony Stark!! Chill, Skye, chill),a blonde dude I guessed was Hawkeye and the Black Widow.  
Okay, I was defenitly inside drooling. I glanced at May and smiled at the sight. You see, a lot of people wouldn’t notice but I saw May refraining herself from letting her jaw fall to the ground. 

Tony spoke up: “nice to see you’re not dead”  
“Nice to not be dead” Coulson answered and Stark pulled him in for a hug. Romanov and Hawkeye took their turn to greet their former handler. I saw Coulson’s eyes gleaming and he motioned his hands towards me.  
“I’ll be honest, the reason I came here wasn’t to tell you guys I was alive... I need a favour, Stark”, he put his hands on my shoulders and guided me in front of Stark, “This is Skye. Recently she acquired powers”,I winced. If anyone noticed, they didn’t let it on, “We don’t have the resources... or the experience to help her. I was thinking maybe you could?” Stark took me in fom my black boots, to the gloves Simmons made me.  
“What did you say your name was, dear?” typical Tony Stark. “Skye”, at his questional expression I added,”just Skye, no last name” He offered his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, just Skye” he said while flashing his most charming smile. Hawkeye and Romanov followed his lead and greeted me too. I learned that Hawkeye’s real name was Clint Barton (Huh, sounds familiar) and that Natasha (she insisted on calling her by her first name) was a lot friendlier than she looked.  
“So what are your powers, exactly?”, Clint asked. Tony was speaking to someone on his phone and Natasha was quietly talking to May. Probably chatting about missions and ways to kill someone with their stares, you know, the usual.  
I focused back on Barton. “I make things shake?” It came out more as a question.  
Coulson continued: “During a mission in San Juan she came in contact with Kree technology”, Stark briefly looked up and started talking more rapidly on the phone,”We don’t really know to what extent her powers go, but it’s destructive.  
She can’t really control them and that’s why we came here. Everytime she experiences a strong emotion her powers surface. What we do know from certain sources”, he was talking about Cal and Raina “,Is that she comes from a line of people with powers. Her mother was probably one of them.” My mother, dead before I got to know her, killed by Whitehall. I’m glad Coulson put a bullet through his heart and ended his sadistic experiments.  
My line of thought was ended by Tony walking back to us.  
“I spoke to Bruce, dr. Banner”, He explained,” and he says he would like to meet you and perhaps help you with keeping your emotions in check.”  
I looked up. “So that means, you’ll help me?” “Yeah, why not? I mean, life at the tower is a bit dull at the moment, so why not a have a litlle pet project?” Natasha and Clint shot him a look that would make any other human being drop to the floor with their hands raise above their heads, but not Tony Stark. I know it was meant to be a joke, but it still hurt. I was a project, I could be a succes or just completely fail. But still, it was nice of them to take me in. I turned to Coulson and gave him goodbye hug. “Thank you,AC, for everything” I whispered in his ear. He pulled away and smiled. “If anyone will make it through this, it’s you, Skye.” I hope, oh how I hope that’s true.  
I walked to May and to my surprise she pulled me in for a brief but firm hug. “Take care, Skye”. And with that they both got back in the Quinn-jet. Coulson turned around and nodded in our general direction, meant as a goodbye for Stark, Romanov and Barton. “Come on, Skye”, Natasha ushered me to the door, “I’ll show you where you’ll be staying.”


	3. The Captain

Wow, just wow. The whole bus could fit in this place. After my van and bunk, this was definetly an upgrade. There were three bedrooms with attached barthrooms. There was an open kitchen, fully packed (with the most glorious coffee machine), that merged into the living room.  
“You’ll get used to it”, Natasha said, noticing my astonished look. “I don’t think I ever will”, I joked. “Trust me, you will”, she said while walking out the flat.  
“Oh and Skye?” I turned around, raising an eyebrow,”Dinner’s at 7 in the upstairs dining hall. Ask Jarvis for directions”.  
I was told Jarvis was the AI that controlled the tower. I wondered if I could hack into the system. But that was a problem for later. After Natasha closed the door I turned back around, taking the whole room in, and let out a breath.  
I moved towards the couch and in one sloppy motion buried myself in the throw pillows. I took the remote from the coffee table, put my feet on the latter and zapped through the channels ‘til a british voice startled me from haze.  
“Miss Skye, dinner’s being served in the dining hall”, I looked at the clock on the opposite wall and saw that it was already 7 o’clock,”I was instructed to direct you to it”. Jarvis gave me the directions while I walked to the door. I thanked him and stepped inside the elevator. I pushed the ‘floor 72’ button and the doors closed.  
But at the last moment a hand appeared between the closing doors and it reopened. I jumped and redirected my gaze, that had wandered down (It happened a lot the last days), upwards and stared at the stranger. My gaze widened at the sight of the one and only Captain America. He was dressed in a pair of denim pants and a simple white shirt that complimented his muscled figure (God, since when did I sound like Simmons?).  
I lingered on his biceps, but shook my head when I noticed his outstretched hand.  
“Um, sorry, what did you say?” He chuckled and shook his head down. “I said, My name’s Steve Rogers, ma’am”, he offered his hand once more. I put my hand in his too big one and gave him my most charming smile. “I’m Skye, I thought mr. Stark alerted everyone I was here?”  
“I just got here from a mission. All I had time for was a quick shower and a change of clothes. I haven’t seen the others yet, ma’am.” The elevator arrived and he motioned towards the hall “After you, ma’am” Wow, 40’s galantry is something. “Please, just call me Skye. Ma’am seems so formal” I said, but I knew I was grinning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeey she finally meets the captain!!! This will be the last chapter before I update again in two weeks...  
> Also, I'll try to write longer chapters, but I need the time to perfect my writing (because I'm a long way from perfection)  
> Let me know what you think in the comments??


	4. Old Friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is!!! This chapter is also much longer than the previous ones and I will try to keep this length for the following chapters too.
> 
> I do not own any of the Marvel characters

“I’m still not comptetly used to it”, The captain said, “I mean, the customs of the 21st century are different. Everything is so different”   
I nodded in understanding. I didn’t know how it felt to miss 70 years of history, but I did know how it felt like to not be used to a surrounding. The many foster homes I’ve been to were always different and I always tried to blend in, but I always failed. Now, at least, I know why: SHIELD. And later it would become my home. When I finally gotten used to being an agent, that too was taking from me.   
Steve, noticing my shift in emotions, changed topic: “By the way, don’t let Tony hear you calling him Mr.Stark, you don’t want to go there” He smiled, The kind of smile that could light up a room It made me smile too For a moment we just stared at each other, but it was soon broken off by Jarvis telling us we arrived  
“Ah, I see you’ve met Capsicle” Tony exclaimed, as we stepped out of the elevator At my right Steve Rogers shot him a look Stark ignored it and continued:   
“By the way, Maria”, he pointed his thumb towards the former agent, “mentioned that you’re a hacker?” I opened my mouth to respond, but immediatly closed it and nodded instead.  
He grinned and walked to where I was standing.  
“Why didn’t you say so? You and I”, He pointed his finger between us, “Are gonna have a lot of fun. Now come”, he clapped the captain’s back, “after your mission you must be hungry!” I followed the two Avengers to a large wooden table. Tony stood at the end and demanded (I’m not kidding, he actually used that word) everyone’s attention. “My fellow Avengers, this is Skye”, he beckoned me to come closer, “she’s Coulson’s protegée -”. He was interrupted by Rogers: “Agent Coulson is alive? I thought he lost his life at the hands of Loki?” “That’s right, you didn’t get the memo. Fury lied, well sorta... Coulson was dead, then revived by some alien DNA”, a few at the table frowned, “and then he was alive again. Skye’s part of his team”. I decided to speak up: “I was mortally wounded, Coulson healed me with the same alien DNA. Then after a lot of following Hydra around, we found out they were after an alien temple and we decided to blow it up. But it didn’t go as planned and – “ I looked around, some were nodding, some were just gaping at me, “Long story short. I have alien DNA and powers”  
“After it’s fall, SHIELD doesn’t have the resources to help her. So Coulson asked us to help her”, Tony finished. At one point during the story Tony had put his hand on my shoulder.   
“I thought SHIELD was gone” Steve gave a pointed look towards Maria Hill.  
“Don’t look at me. Fury also hides secrets from me”  
“Coulson isn’t like that”, I told them, “he tries to share everything with us, he doesn’t compartementalize. He’s rebuilding SHIELD the way it was supposed to be!”   
“I trust Coulson to do the right thing”, Hill shrugged.   
Sensing the tension in the room, Tony exclaimed: “I’m famished let’s eat!” At the same moment everyone seated themselves, four people bursted throught the kitchen doors, carrying our plates.   
“I do want to ask you something, Skye”. I cocked my head in response. “I had Jarvis do a search on you, the only thing I could find is your SHIELD pass before Hydra. Now here comes my question: How did you learn your computer skills?”   
I swallowed a mouthful of rice before speaking. I could still hear one of the foster mom’s: Mary, don’t speak with your mouth full!   
“While in the foster system, I never stayed in one place. I couldn’t stand one more rejection, so one night, I ran away from St. Agnes”. Barton’s head snapped up. Romanov frowned at her friend’s strange behavior.   
“I met someone who teached me the basics of everything I know. Not to brag, but the student became better than the teacher”.   
“Wait”, everyon’s head snapped to the archer, “did you just say St. Agnes? I knew you looked familiar! You changed your name, but your’s was Mary, wasn’t it?” Speechless, I gaped at him. My brains were trying to match his face with the database in my head. There was a match “Clint” It came out as a whisper. A grin broke out on his face.   
“We should defenitly catch up!” I agreed. After several questions, mainly from Tony Stark, about how we met, we resumed eating. There was some backgroundchatter, but I took the time to study them all. From what I understodd, Tony was talking sience with Banner. Miss. Potts, Romanov and Hill were also talking together. Steve and Clint were, like me, eating silently. My gaze stayed a few seconds too long on the super soldier. I had read his files, I had watched the tv show during my time in the foster system. I had been heartbroken when Suzy, a foster mom, had told me he crashed in the arctic and was never found. Now I was eating at the same table as him. A smile spread on my face.

 

After dinner everyone retreated back to their respective flats. I was walking to the elevator, when dr. Banner stopped me.   
“I don’t think we met properly. Bruce Banner, also known as the Hulk. I heard you had problems with controlling your powers”. I flinched at the word ‘power’. What I had, weren’t powers. Powers made you strong, brave. It didn’t made you hurt people you care about. Not hurt, Skye, kill. You could’ve killed everyone at the playground, I thought, You killed your friend, you killed Tripp. His face flashed through my mind. My sadness must’ve shown on my face, because dr. Banner placed a comforting hand on my back.   
“Don’t blame yourself, Skye. I’ve been there and trust me, It is not a happy place. I’ll help you. I don’ want anyone to go through what I did.” I thanked him and walked back to my room. Once there, I kicked my boots off and sauntered into the bedroom. Without changing into my pakamas, I fell face first into the bed and fell asleep.  
When I woke up, It was still dark. I could still see Cal’s psychotic smile, how his eyes lit up with a crazy gleam. I didn’t notice I was making the bed shake until Jarvis pointed it out. I focused my energy inwards like I was used to and pain flooded my body. I thought the gauntlets would block it, but I was wrong. Before completely blacking out, I heard Jarvis saying my vital sings were rising.


	5. Moving on

I could hear faint buzzing. Light was filtering through my eyelids, but I didn’t dare to open them. Straining my ears, I could distinguish the sound of people talking, feet shuffling around and machines humming.  
A tingling feeling crept up my arm, as I began moving my fingers.  
“She’s awake”  
I slowly opened my eyes. I had to squint my them, because the lighting was too harsh. But after a few seconds I was able to take in my surroundings.  
Panicking, I gasped. The memories of getting shot and spending days in the bus’ medical bay came rushing back, but then I saw dr. Banner on my right, adjusting the bags of fluids that were connected to my arms with tubes (How did Simmons call them again?) Clint was sleeping in an armchair that didn’t look comfortable at all.  
Tony, who was fiddling with a tablet, looked up and asked: “What happened? Why are your arms covered with bruises?”  
I lifted them up and sighed as I saw my purplish arms.  
“It’s to control my powers”, I admitted, “Normally, the gauntlets Simmons made me, should stop the shaking, but I don’t think they are strong enough now”.  
Tony strode to a nearby table and took the gloves in his hands, taking his time studying them.  
Fear dawned on me. “Why did you take them off? I could hurt you!” kill kill kill, not hurt.  
“Clearly, they don’t help anymore”, Bruce nodded to my bruised arms, “And besides, how do you want to hurt Iron man, Hawkeye and Hulk” He added his alter-ego with distaste. At the commotion, Clint’s eyes shot open and in one graceful move he was up, sleep already out of his eyes.  
“Are you okay?”  
I nodded “Trust me, I’ve had far worse”  
I tried to smile, but I knew it must’ve been a grimace, deducing from Clint’s expression.  
Ever since I was shot, I hated being in a hospital bed.  
I made a motion to sit up and Clint practically pounced over to help me.  
“You should sleep”, Bruce said, “Tiring yourself won’t help the healing”  
“But I’m not tired” I remembered telling the same thing to Coulson.  
“It’s better if you stay here one more night. This way, I can monitor your vitals and take a look at the gauntlets”  
Bruce shooed everyone out of the room and with nothing else to do, I closed my eyes and dozed off.

When I woke up, the first thing I saw was Tony Stark. I remember the time I dressed up as him and fangirled in front of the building (Better to never say that to him). He was tinkering with a piece of electronic, when he looked up and saw me awake.  
“Oh, Hey. I tinkered a bit with the gauntlets and noticed something: They block your powers and that’s not good. Compare it to a water balloon. You fill the balloon with water and it expands. But after a certain point, it will become too heavy for it and the balloon will pop”  
He mimicked an explosion with his hands.  
“So, I made you gauntlets who’ll help you focus your powers until you learn to fully control them”, he showed me the gauntlets, “It’s very similar to my power beams. Well the technique behind them. It’s – “ He stopped mid-sentence, for a few moments he stared at me with his mouth still open. Then a smirk expanded on his face.  
“I’m gonna show you something” He told me while walking to the door. Just before completely stepping out of the med bay, he turned around.  
“Stay here” Yeah, I’m practically strapped to the bed, but I wasn’t going to complain.  
Five minutes had passed, when Tony came back, carrying a black messenger bag. He took a seat on the bed and opened the bag, revealing a laptop. It had been so long since I had seen one. Ever since San Juan I had been on lock down and was never needed for my computer expertise. Tears welled up in my eyes. Tony looked rather confused and helpless at the sobbing mess called me.  
“It’s not the laptop”, I breathed out in between sobs, “It’s what it stands for. The team used to be different, I used to be different!” Tony placed a comforting hand on my leg.  
“After the chitauri invasion, I cried for what I had lost too. It’s okay, it’s part of the grieving process and after all of that, you start seeing all the things you have gained. It’s true, we don’t always agree with each other, but the rest of the Avengers and me, we became friends and we gained each other’s trust” He leaned over me to grab the tissue box on the bedside table and offerd me one, Gratefully, I took one and wiped away my tears.  
“Now what I wanted to show you was this”, He opend his laptop and showed me Jarvis’ program. A small smile appeared on my face. Now and then he made funny remarks and slowly, my sobs became laughter again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know there's not a lot of Steve Rogers, but we'll get there: It's a slow burn.  
> I wanted to include him in this chapter, but sometimes things just aren't right. But he'll probably be in the next chapter.  
> Also I want to thank you for all the kudos, it really means a lot to me!!
> 
> ps OMG did you see the season 3 trailer of aos?! I can't wait for it to begin!!


	6. Slow and Steady

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sunday's chapter, a little bit earlier than expected because I'm gone tomorrow.  
> The title of this chapter is the way Skye heals: slow and steady  
> I'm sorry if there are grammar mistakes
> 
> I do not own any of the Marvel characters

The next day, Bruce released me from the medbay. I walked to the elevator, decided to grab some coffee in my appartment. The elevator doors opened, revealing Natasha.  
“Just the person I was looking for! Go get changed, I’ll meet you in the gym in 20 minutes”  
She took off in the direction of Tony’s lab.

I grunted as I hit the floor. I thought with what May had told me I would be able to keep up with Natasha, but then, while lying on the floor with countless of sore places that could only result in bruises, I suspected May went easy on me. Natasha offeres me a hand and helped me up.   
“Let’s take a break, okay?” She nodded to the bench at the side of the gym. I strode over there and plopped onto the bench. I was gulping down my bottle of water, when Natasha took a seat next to me.   
“Melinda did a good job with teaching you”  
“really?” I said non-believing “because you pretty much kicked my ass over there”  
“You forget I have been in this business longer than you have”

When our training was finally over, I went back to my room to take a shower. Afterwards, per my growling stomach’s request, I took off in the direction of the communal lounge to grab a snack. I decided to wear my black leggings, red sweater and black boots. I let my damp hair fall loosely around my shoulders. I picked an apple from the fruit basket and slouched in the couch.   
“Whatta ya watchin’?” Clint jumped over the couch to land directly in the cushions. He propped his feet onto the coffeetable and hugged a blue pillow to his chest.   
I shrugged, “I don’t know, I just wanted to zap through the channels?”  
“Let’s watch the lion king”, he smirked, “for old times sake”  
The Lion King was the only VHS, apart from a boring adult movie, the orphanage owned. Every week, all of the kidds would huddle around the tv to watch the movie, everyone had already seen too many times. He took the remote controle and started the movie. I took a loud bite of my apple and Clint shushed me. I rolled my eyes at him and in response he poked me in the side.  
“Oooh, the Lion King?” Tony made himself comfortable in the armchair, swinging his legs over one armrest and letting his head hang from the other. The familiar intro song began playing and Clint sang wholeheartly with it. He was waving his hands with the melody. Tony buried his favce in his hands and groaned. I could only laugh at the memory of young Clint doing exactly the same. After a few seconds Natasha strode into the lounge, but when she saw Clint singing, she laughed and nestled in his left side. Her head was lying on his chest and was moving with his deep breaths. His left hand was playing with a lock of her hair and his right hand was locked into hers. I couldn’t do anything but smile at the sweetness of those two. Right then and there, you couldn’t see that they were master assasins.

After the movie ended, Tony went back to his lab. From what I was told, Tony blew up all of his suits as a romantic gesture for Pepper. The only problem is; Tony doesn’t like being helpless, so he’s building a new Iron Man suit. I don’t think Pepper minds.  
Clint, Natasha and I started a game of Monopoly. I was glad Tony decided to not play with us, he’d have us bankrupt in a matter of seconds. The game lasted a whole afternoon, Clint even went to get popcorn and mini-pretzels. In the end, Natasha won with four streets, full of hotels. I would have won, if I hadn’t fallen on the “pay for all your houses/hotels” card. God, I hate those. After Natasha made it clear she won by throwing her hands in the air and chewing triumphantly on a pretzel, I went back to my room. It had only been three days, but I was already feeling more comfortable being here.  
“Don’t get too comfortable”, a little voice said in my head, “This is not for forever. It never is”

 

After dinner, that mainly consisted out of me, awkwardly eating a burrito, everyone returned to their appartment. While brushing my teeth, I looked into the mirror. My fringe landed right beneath my eyebrows, so I brushed it aside and decided to wear it like that until I got a haircut. I plucked the stray eyebrow hairs, all the while still holding my toothbrush in my mouth. I spitted the excess toothpaste in the sink and rinsed my mouth. I changed into my pyjamas and went to bed. I crawled underneath the sheets and asked Jarvisnto put out the lights.

Everyone was staring at me. Mack was angry, shouting murderer at me, soon Simmons joined him. Hunter was shaking his head in disbelief. Bobbi stood in a protective stance in front of the team. Batons out ready to strike. Fitz.... Oh, Fitz, hurt on his face, muttering words to himself, tears staining his cheeks. May’s expression was unreadable. And Coulson.... Guilt was written all over his face. Guilt and regret. He stepped closer,  
“I should’ve never accepted you into the team. Look at what you’ve done!” He looked at something behind me, or better, someone. Following his gaze, my eyes landed on a pale Tripp. His eyes were cold and a layer of stone spreaded over his body. Before reaching them, he locked his eyes with mine. I kept staring at him as his body turned to stone. I kept staring at him as I sent a tremor in his direction. I kept staring at him as his stony body bursted in fragments.

I startled awake. My hair was sticking to my sweaty forehead. I let out a shaky breath and wiped the beads of sweat from my face. I rubbed my hands over my face and threw my legs out of bed. I put a bra underneath my tanktop, took my sweater, that was thrown over a chair and headed to the Tower’s gym.

I didn’t bother with bandaging my hands with brass bands. The pain couldn’t be worser than the pain I felt when I had the nightmare. My arms were still blue and bruised, but I didn’t care. I punched the punching bag with as much strenght as I had, over and over again. Tears were streaming down my face as I slowly sunk through my knees. I gripped the punching bag tighter and cried ‘til I was emptied of all my emotions and found myself curled up into a ball, next to the punching bag. My head snapped up, when I heard heavy footsteps approaching. I quickly wiped away my tears, hoping my face wouldn’t show me crying only a few seconds prior. Steve shuffled through the doors, but stopped abruptly when he saw me crouching on the floor.  
“I’m sorry, I thought no one would be here at this hour”  
“What are you doing here, then?”  
“I could ask you the same thing”  
I shrugged:”Couldn’t sleep”  
He studied me for a long time and I instinctivly hid my bruised and cut hands behind my back. He stepped closer and offered me his hand.  
“Are you going to sit there for the rest of the night?” Carefully I placed my hand in his and he hauled me upright. If he saw my knuckles, he didn’t say anything and I was grateful for that. Instead he asked:  
“You want to talk about it?” I didn’t know if it was because of the lack of sleep or because he genuinely seemed worried and because I was tired of keeping it all bottled up. I told him everything from the start: The day Coulson asked me to join his rag tag team, the day Simmons almost died, the day I almost died, the day Ward betrayed us, the day I met my father, the day Tripp died....  
He didn’t once interrupt me, he just nodded along.  
At one point in my story, he had begun rubbing soothingly my knuckles. I felt my eyes begin to droop and jawned. Steve scooped me up in his arms and carried me to my room. Like a drzam, I remembeedr my ear against his chest, hearing his heart beating. I remembered him asking Jarvis where my room was and taking me there. I remembered him tucking me into bed and right before completely drifting away, I remembered how calming it felt, when he ran his thumb along my temple.


	7. Training

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is, the new chapter!! I hope you'll like it.  
> I want to thank my lovely beta reader, Lady Winterlight.   
> I do not own any of the Marvel Characters

No nightmares, no screaming, no sweating.  
This time, when I woke up, I felt…Well rested? I looked up at the ceiling and grinned. Maybe things would turn out right. A heavy burden was already taken away, by telling Steve everything. It was like a weight was taken from my shoulders.  
“Miss Skye, Dr. Banner requested your presence in the gym.”  
“Tell him I’ll be down in 15 minutes.”  
“Very well, Miss Skye.”  
After a quick shower, I ran to my closet and picked some comfy sweats. I was going to the gym after all. Arriving there, I was welcomed by Bruce sitting cross-legged on a yoga mat with his palms up and resting on his knees.  
He opened his eyes when I coughed, making my presence known. He patted the spot next to him and smiled kindly. I took a mat and plopped down onto the ground.  
“Take a comfortable position and clear your mind. Count your breaths,” he instructed.  
I did as I was told and breathed with an interval of three seconds.  
When my brain picked up the routine and I didn’t have to focus on my breathing anymore, I let my thoughts wander off. I thought back to the night before; how Steve took my hand in his and how for a moment, all my pain, all my grief seemed to flow away. How I stared into his blue orbs and couldn’t help but to tell him everything. He never once blamed me for the death of Tripp, nor was he disappointed when I helped Myles. Without my knowing, my lips quirked upward.  
“Skye?”  
I hummed in response.  
“I think you’re relaxed enough now.”  
I tilted my head to the side.  
“We’ve been here for over an hour.” Astonished I looked at him. He chuckled “Lovely thoughts?”  
I felt a blush creep up my neck and settle on my cheeks. I ducked my head to hide it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he already noticed. But even if he did, he didn’t say anything about it and I was grateful for that.  
“Tony wanted to see you. He wants to test the gauntlets, to see if they actually work. He’s in the basement; I’ll go with you.”

When someone says basement, I think of cobwebs and brooms, boxes and old toys. This isn’t a basement. With the two story high wall covered with a sort of metal and rubber; it looked more like a military base. Bruce explained to me how this was the ‘fortified’ room. Where he could let his inner Hulk out and where Thor could ‘put down his hammer’. Tony figured it would be the best place to train my abilities. I still wasn’t the biggest fan of his idea, too scared to shake the foundations of the building and let the tower collapse on everyone. Bruce and he assured me it wouldn’t happen and that’s why I stood in the middle of the ‘basement’ trying (and failing) to hit a standing target.   
“It isn’t working!” I shouted. They were watching me from another room, but I knew they could hear me through the intercoms.   
“You’re not trying hard enough!” Tony shouted back.  
“It’s not my fault your gloves don’t work!”  
“My gauntlets do work, you’re just not using them right.”  
“How can I not use them right? They’re gloves!”  
I heard him gasp through the speaker attached to the wall.  
“Don’t you dare talk about my creations like that, I’ll pers-”  
“Just try again, Skye,” Bruce interrupted, “and focus on your breathing. On your breathing and the target. Don’t try to keep your powers in, you won’t hurt anyone here, okay?”  
I closed my eyes and nodded. Taking a deep breath, I evoked my powers again. This time, I felt my blood flowing through my veins, I felt the atoms in the air, stroking my skin and in the distance, I heard two hearts beating fast  
Tony and Bruce were nervous. I couldn’t blame them. I had to ignore my own heart beating frantically and the ringing in my ears. I took another deep breath and opened my eyes. I locked them on the target and rose my hand in it’s direction. A burst of energy arose from my stomach and surged through my arm into the air. I pinched my eyes shut, stumbling backwards by the force of the sudden powerburst.   
Tony cheered and clapped in his hands. He was saying something about how he was right and his gauntlets do work. I didn’t really listen, because I was staring at the target that was not only lying 2 feet further than it was before, but was all blown up. A feeling of pride mixed with anxiety swelled in me and because I couldn’t find any other way to express my emotions, I laughed.  
“I have to admit, that was cool?” Clint spoke up through the mic. I hadn’t noticed he had joined Tony and Bruce. I turned to the speaker.  
“I still don’t think your gauntlets work that well, Stark.”  
“Oh shut up,” I heard him smile.  
The three of them walked out of the observation room.  
“Hey Clint, did you also see when Skye couldn’t hit the target?”  
I gave him a dirty look as I stepped closer to give Clint a hello-hug.  
“Don’t mind him, you should have seen him, when he first got his suit.” He hugged me back.  
“SHIELD wasn’t supposed to find that footage!”  
“What did it feel like?” Clint asked, not fully letting go, but instead keeping an arm around my shoulders. I breathed in and exhaled again, smiling. I hauled my shoulders up.  
“I was- It was-” I couldn’t find the right words to describe the sensation. The tingling of all the particles against my skin, my blood pumping in my veins …  
Finally, I sighed, “It felt like everything.”


	8. Winter Is Coming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait!! School has kept me busy, but I won't give up on this story!!  
> I want to thank my betareader LadyWinterlight.  
> Euhm, enjoy!!!
> 
> I do not own any of the Marvel Characters

“I heard from Clint what you did this morning, he was pretty impressed,” Natasha smirked.

“I have to admit, it was pretty cool.” I rubbed my hand behind my neck, nodding. She threw her head back with laughter. At the same moment, Steve came barging in through the doors. I hadn’t talked to him since that night. It was like that night was a bubble and everything that was said and done during that night would never come out during daytime. His eyes landed on me and, for a moment, he forgot why he came here. Natasha, still smirking, crossed her arms.

“Well Captain, are you going to say something?” 

He nodded to the door, he was still watching me, and opened and closed his mouth a few times, trying to remember the reason he came. He cleared his throat and averted his eyes to Natasha. I let out a breath I didn’t know I had held. 

“Tony found him. He found Bucky.” Her smile fell and she shifted from one foot to another. 

“How?”

“We don’t really have his location, but we found a file where he’s mentioned. There’s a lot of other data, but Tony can’t crack it. He sent me to ask for your help.” He stared at me, almost pleading. I remembered Bucky from the files we found in the old storage at the Playground. Captain America’s best friend, died during a mission: fell off a train and the body was never found. 

“Euhm, I don’t think I can be a better help than Tony Stark.”

“Please try?”

Oh darn, why could he change from Captain fricking America to a lost puppy in 0.3 seconds?

“I’ll try.”

Relief washed over his face. “He’s in the lab.”

During our walk there, they both briefed me on everything they already knew about James Buchanan Barnes. I was shocked when they mentioned him being The Winter Soldier. But my fear of him changed into resentment towards Hydra, when Steve said he was controlled by them. They were treating him like a puppet.

“It’s not much,” Tony said when we walked in, ”but it’s something. I found him being mentioned in one of their files. It’s says here,” he pointed towards a phrase on the computer screen. I didn’t understand any of it, with it being in Russian. I glanced over to where Steve was standing and saw that he looked as helpless as me, “that he was part of Hydra’s project Rebirth.” Steve wore a pained expression, his eyebrows knit together and the muscle in his jaw ticking.

“The file directs us to another file, but I can’t decrypt this one. I’m no hacker” Tony said as he rubbed his eyes with his hand. 

“I’ll see what I can do.” I took a seat and started typing away on the keyboard. I daisy chained my way through their database, making sure Hydra wouldn’t trace it back to me and searching for any other helpful information. I froze when I saw a familiar name as the one who gave the order to encrypt this file: Whitehall. 

“Is something wrong?” Steve placed his hand on my shoulder; I let the warmth that his hand radiated spread through my body before steeling myself. Tony and Natasha were in deep thought in front of a computer at the other side of the room, so it was just me and him.

I shook my head “No, I- I think I can decrypt the file.”

He stayed silent as I typed the code Ward had given me, during a brief talk on the phone, while he was trying to convince me of his good will. 

Green Russian words flashed onto the screen: “Access granted,” I presume.

“I’m in!” I exclaimed. Steve huffed happily and leant in closer to whisper a thank you. I couldn’t stop the shiver that ran down my spine at the motion.

Natasha and Tony’s heads snapped up and they darted from across the room to my station.

“How did you get in?” Tony snapped out the question.

“Back at the Playground, we had someone who kept giving us-” I stopped, not wanting to go any further. I was visibly tensing up, so they didn’t pry. But I knew Steve knew. I had told him the whole story last night. I knew he knew in the way he squeezed my shoulder reassuringly. I glanced up at him and he gave me a small smile that told me everything I wanted to hear at that moment. 

He turned away when Natasha asked for his help. “My German’s a little rusty, would you mind helping here?” She waved to the the screen. 

“He’s on the loose, his program- It - It’s breaking down. His last known location is in Alaska, rampaging through a Hydra base.” 

“Seems like he really hates the dudes. Jarvis, back it up and Skye, can you send it to me?”  
Tony asked, jogging to the holotable. I nodded and swiped my finger horizontally on the screen, just like he showed it to me when I was in the med bay. He began swiping on the Holotable and doing a lot of wavy motions with his arms, while Natasha strode out of the lab, muttering, “I’ll get in touch with some of my contacts.”

“You must really miss him,” I said quietly, just enough for Steve to hear.

“Yeah, I do,” he admitted in a low voice. “He was my best friend.”

“You know that even if his programming is breaking down, he might never be the same as he was?” I tried to make the question gentle, but Steve still winced and I looked away.

“I know that. But… it doesn’t matter. He’d do it for me, if I were in his place.”

I smiled a little. “Sounds like a great friend. Would you tell me about him? Please?”

Steve looked startled. “Why?”

“Because he’s clearly important to you,” I answered.

“Well… sure.”

He told me a lot of war stories, but I also heard some stories from when he was young; How he used to get in trouble and Bucky always had to come save him. It was hard to imagine Steve needing someone to save him, but I guess even Captain America needs someone to count on.

He also told me about Peggy. (Isn’t she Simmons’ role model? Wasn’t she the woman who founded SHIELD with Howard Stark?) She was the one who believed in him even before his transformation and -

“Great Scott!”

Steve turned to me, confused.

“You gonna tell us why Doc Brown all of a sudden?” Tony chuckled, coming up behind me.

“Who’s Doc Brown?” Steve quered. I craned my head to look at him, my mouth open in shock.

“It’s been 4 years and you still haven’t seen Back to the Future? I’m hurt!”

He looked sheepishly away. Tony bent toward the screen and read the newly updated information on the Winter Soldier I had found. In the meantime, I poked Steve's chest (his very firm chest): “You and me, we’re going to watch Back to The Future!” I shook my head, turning back to the computer “I can’t believe you haven’t seen it,” I mumbled.

“Jarvis, translate.”

“Off course, sir. It seems like they’re coordinates.” 

“To where?”

“Brooklyn, Captain Rogers.”


	9. Scars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the kudos, it gives me extra joy to write new chapters, knowing you guys like this story.  
> And thank you to LadyWinterlight, for beta-reading these chapters!
> 
> I do not own any of the Marvel characters.

Without saying a word, he got up and strode out of the room. I stood up and went after him. My shorter legs barely keeping up with him. 

“Captain- Steve!”

He turned abruptly and crossed his arms. The difference between our heights was much more notable now that he was staring down at me. 

“What?” he snapped harshly. He sighed, rubbing his eyes. “Sorry, it’s just-”

“No, I get it. You just found out your long lost friend is nearby.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I can snap at beautiful dames- women- ladies?” He shook his head, frowning. Processing what he just said, he looked up, flushing: “What?”

I was trying to hold back my smile and raised an eyebrow. “You just called me beautiful.” I felt heat rise on my cheeks and a fluttering feeling twisting in my stomach. 

“Did I?” He rubbed behind his neck, ducking his head.

“That’s a conversation for later,” I laughed. “Now let’s get your friend back!”

Steve’s eyebrows knit together.

“I’ll help you,” I exclaimed, “We wouldn’t want America’s sweetheart to get hurt.” I punched him playfully in the shoulder. “And after that, you and me, we are going to watch Back to the Future, deal?” I extended my hand and I watched our hands clasped together in a handshake. I snapped my eyes up and as I caught him staring intently at me, I wetted my lips. His gaze drifted to my mouth and then back to my eyes again. I pulled my hand from his and moved away. I cleared my throat and took a deep breath to recompose myself. 

“Let’s go.”

He agreed, a bit too fast.

 

Natasha and Clint went with us, and so we were sitting in the quinjet, Clint in the cockpit, waiting for him to drop Steve, Natasha and me at Bucky’s location. 

“Hydra is probably going to be there too, so everyone be careful,” Clint said, gaze still fixed in front of him.

“Yeah, we know,” Natasha muttered, closing a strap on her sleeve with her mouth, then straightening her spine.”What if Bucky tries to kill us? I mean, our faces were programmed as targets…” Silence stretched on the quinjet, everyone was contemplating what the redhead just said.

“I could go,” I broke the silence, “He doesn’t know me, I’m just another civilian in his eyes. I could go and ask if he remembers anything.”

“Absolutely not!” Steve shot out of his seat. I did the same “I can handle myself!”

“I can’t let you be in danger!”

I reminded him that I got earthquaking powers, and he remarked I couldn’t even control them. Perhaps that was true - but that was not the point! Our shouting match only lasted the rest of the flight, and all the while Natasha was observing our exchange with an amused and knowing look.

“I’m going and that’s it!” I said as I reached the ramp of the quinjet. Steve jumped down onto the roof and, turning to me, offered his hand, which I gratefully took. With a thud, I landed on the ground next to him and thanked him, quietly. 

“I don’t think I’ll be able to change your mind, so I’ll let you go.”

“Thank you, but I would have gone with or without your approval,” I quipped.

“I know you would.”

I smiled up at him, his own lips quirking upwards too. 

“Clint stays in the quinjet, in case we need a fast exit.” 

Steve and I both nodded, descending the fire stairs from the building we just landed on. We found ourselves in a deserted side street. 

“Steve?” our heads simultaneously whipped around, our eyes landing on a miserable-looking Bucky, I wouldn’t even have recognized him if it weren’t for the metal arm. His shoulder length hair hanging in front of his face, a beard hiding his expression. He was hunched over, his real arm enfolding his abdomen, and - was that blood?

“He’s bleeding,” I admonished. Concentrating, I tapped into the vibrations around us. A small group of men were coming towards us, fast. 

“We need to go! Now!” I shouted and that’s when the gunshots started. As I felt my heart racing and adrenaline pumping through my veins, I threw myself in front of them, arms up.  
Pain searing into my side, and crying out from pain, I sent a power burst to the Hydra agents and fell down on my knees. Natasha ran to my side, while Steve supported Bucky.  
“дурак, why did you do that?” she shot out, “Clint, get ready to fly. Come on Skye, you did well.” She helped me stand up and threw my arm over her shoulders. 

 

“Is she okay?” Clint questioned when we got in the jet. 

“I’m okay… It wouldn’t be the first time someone shot me.” I tried to joke, but flinched from the pain. 

“What the hell were you thinking?!” Steve shouted. 

“Language,” I chastised, trying to smile.

“Don’t do that ever again. Put some pressure on that wound, Bucky.”

“Aye, Captain,” Bucky responded lightly. 

“Let me see the wound,” Natasha ordered.

“No, I’m fine. It’s just a side wound, I’ll let Bruce check it out, when we’re back at the Tower.”

“Skye, I need to see it,” she pushed, when she saw me wince, “you’re clearly in pain.”

Defeated, I lifted my shirt, revealing not only the gun wound, but also the scar from when Quinn shot me. Steve gasped and Natasha’s eyes shot from my abdomen to my face and back again.

“how?”

“Same as Coulson,” my whisper barely understandable, “Alien blood, just like I told you the first day…” 

Natasha craned her head to look at Steve, who was clenching his fists, lips in a thin line. Then she turned back to me, “Who did this?”

“Ian Quinn”

“Сукин сын”

I didn’t need to speak Russian to understand the words she just spoke. I could decipher what she said just by looking at her face, her very angry face. I was touched: That she, actually every Avenger, cared for me and shared my pain in a way. It made me feel less alone, the last days I actually felt more at ease in the Tower.

“Good thing you can recover when we watch that movie,” Steve said, pulling me out of my reverie and finishing the silence.

“It’s not just any movie-” I corrected him.  
“I know, I know. It’s the movie!” 

“And don’t you forget it” 

He patted my shoulder and then turned to Bucky, asking: “Why were you in Brooklyn?”

“Everything comes slowly back, I- I remember things. From before the war,” Bucky clarified, gazing round the jet, “I remembered my- my home, but I lost the way and that’s when- when they came: Hydra. I don’t want to go back.”

“You won’t, I promise,” Steve eyed him carefully, “I never got to thank you…” 

The Winter Soldier’s gaze went back to Steve.

“For saving me, in the train in Switzerland and from drowning when the Triskelion went down.”

“You’re my friend.” 

Steve smiled softly at his words, I had a feeling those words meant a lot to him.


	10. Closer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A big thanks to LadyWinterlight, for beta-reading this story!!
> 
> I do not own any of the Marvel characters

After getting back to the Tower, I was hauled off to get my wound treated by Bruce; while he worked, he saw the scar but just gave me a soft smile and continued to bandage my side. When he finished I went to the debriefing, where Tony yelled at me for being so reckless (I wasn’t smiling at him being worried about me and I certainly wasn’t smiling when he pulled me in for a hug; Natasha said Tony’s hugs were rare). When that was done, I went to search for a quiet place, deciding to call Coulson and my SHIELD team. I typed the all too familiar phone number in and put my phone to my ear. After three rings he picked up.

“Skye?” His voice was a soothing sound to my ears.

“Yeah, it’s me…”

“Is everything okay? Are they nice to you? Do I have to come pick you up?” I laughed at his fatherly act. I don’t really know when he became a parent-figure to me, but somewhere along the weird missions and the evenings playing board games, he became like a father to me. And deep down I knew he looked at me like his daughter.

“No, everything’s fine, dad.”

He chuckled, “I’m sorry, it’s just we haven’t heard a lot about you the last few days.”

“I’ve only been gone for, what, like a week?”

“Yeah, but…”

“Oooh, AC! You miss me!” I laughed.

“It’s Director now,” he corrected.

“I know, but DC just doesn’t have the same ring to it.”

“Oh, are you please going to call me now by my name, then?”

I waited a few seconds before responding, “Naaah, still not going to call you Phillip, DC.”

“Darn it, I’m doomed,” he joked, “Do you want to speak to someone else?”

“Could you pass me to Fitz?”

“Off course… Take care, Skye.”

“You too, DC.”

I talked to Fitz for a while, assuring him I was okay and telling him about Tony Stark and his lab. I promised that one day, I would introduce him to the billionaire. He passed me, per my request, to Simmons. We talked about how Tony made me new gauntlets and how they don’t try to stop my powers, but channel them. Simmons sounded remorseful when she listened to my description, but she soon brightened up.

“I can’t believe you're on first name base, with all of the Avengers?!”

“I can’t believe it either. I mean, I was the little orphan girl, who no one wanted to have and now… I don’t even have the words for it!”

“You deserve all of it, Skye.” 

“Thank you, Jemma.”

“But I do want to see you again, don’t let the fame and fortune go to your head,” she tried to sound light, but I heard the sad undertone in her voice. 

“Thank you, for helping me.”

“With pleasure.”

As I got off the phone, after I spoke with May and Hunter (Mack and Bobbi were too ‘preoccupied’), I saw the time. So I went to search for Steve. Clint said he was in the recovery room, at Bucky’s side. Steve’s back was to me, Bucky’s face hidden behind it. I knocked on the open door, waiting for an answer before stepping inside. Steve and Bucky stopped their talk and turned to me.

“So you are Skye, I suppose,” Bucky said to me.

“Yeah… and you’re James.”

“Please, call me Bucky.” He yawned.

“I’ll let you sleep, pal.” Steve said, patting his friend’s shoulder.

“Yeah, use me as an excuse to be alone with the beautiful lady,” he winked, leaving Steve slightly embarrassed.

I snorted and looped my arm through Steve’s. Captain America would never want a relationship with an orphan… but I was happy enough with his friendship and the moments we shared.

“Does this mean we’re gonna watch the movie now?”

“Yes, I’ve asked Tony if we could order pizza and eat while watching the movie.”

“Where are we going?”

“To my room, I’ve got the movie on my laptop. I just have to connect it with the tv and then we can watch it on a big screen.”

 

As the movie ended, Skye was pulled back into reality and became aware of her position; pillowing her head into the crook of Steve’s shoulder. She would never have imagined the feeling of nestling into his arms, nor how warm his skin would be. She couldn’t even begin to describe the feeling of how he’d run his hand over her back, lazily, as though it all also felt natural to him, or how she would shiver every time he did that. She should have known better: already there were words floating through her brain, so heavy, sooner or later they would burst out: I like you. But no, she attracted scum like Ward or Myles… Never would Steve be interested in her; never would America’s golden boy love a hacker. Deciding to stop with her pity party, she pulled reluctantly out of his embrace.

“So? What do you think?”

“I think… You were right!”

I threw my fist in the air, making Steve snicker.

“You were right, it’s really a funny and good movie. I wonder why no one has ever told me about it…”

“Lucky for you there’s a second movie, and a third…” I waggled my eyebrows at him, pulling my feet under me.

He opened his mouth to retort, but was interrupted by Jarvis.

“Captain Rogers, there’s a problem in the recovery room.”

In a matter of seconds, he was up, the easy smile gone from his face.

“What’s the matter, Jarvis?”

“It’s Bucky, Captain. He’s shouting he wants to kill you.”


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry it took such a long time to update this, but I had this huge writer's block and school wasn't helping at all... but enjoy and thank you for all the kudos on this story!!! :)
> 
> PS all errors are mine
> 
> I do not own any of the Marvel characters

He shot up from his seat, startling me from my haze. “I knew it,” He shouted, “I knew it was too easy!” 

I stood up too, resting my hand on his bicep in a comforting way. It didn’t work. He pulled away from my touch, like I was poison and it hurt. It hurt more than being sent back to the orphanage. It hurt more than being lied to by Myles. It almost hurt as much as Ward’s betrayal. 

He looked to the spot on his arm where I had touched him. I was afraid of what he was going to say. Rejection was the only world that came into my mind. Slowly, his eyes drifted to mine and in one swift motion he had his arms around me. I froze at the sudden action, but melted in his warmth. 

“They took everything from me: Peggy, Howard, Dugan… My life. I thought I had lost Bucky once, and it was the worst day of my life. And then, when I saw him in DC, I was happy, happy he was alive, but what they did to him… It-” His voice was so small, that something in me broke. This is Captain America, no, cross that, this is Steve Rogers, someone who had the weight of the world thrust on his shoulders when he wasn’t ready yet. 

“Shhh, it’s okay.” I awkwardly patted his back, he was too big for my small embrace, but I heard his heart rate slowing down. He took a deep breath and straightened his spine. 

“I’ll go with you, okay?” He only nodded in response. 

Together, we walked to the recovery room. Steve’s heart beat picking back up. He strode into the observe room next to it, with me in tow. Natasha and Tony were silently watching through the one-way mirror. Their heads both jolted towards us. 

“He’s calmer now. But a few minutes before, he was thrashing the room. Jarvis is doing a full body scan, as we speak.” 

Steve moved next to Tony, observing his old friend. Tony took a pad, that was lying on the table and tapped a few words into it.

“Full body scan read, sir”

“Well? tell us!” Steve demanded.

“It seems like he has a chip connected to his brain, receiving signals from a long range.”

“Can you tell us where it’s from?”

“I’m afraid I can’t, Captain.”

Steve’s fist landed on the table, breaking it in half.

“Please, don’t break all my stuff. Skye, the signals are encrypted…” 

“On it,” I responded, turning away. As I entered back into my apartment, I stood still, watching the living room: The couch with bits of popcorn lying on it, the movie, replaying it’s main menu, the cozy fleece, that only minutes before, was keeping me and Steve warm. I shook my head. Steve needs me, there’s no time to dwell on this scene. I got my laptop from the kitchen table and nestled into the couch, draping the fleece around my shoulders. I shut the television and began cracking it’s encryption: my laptop and I, the same way it used to be before SHIELD. 

I think a few hours had passed, because when I heard my stomach grumble, I looked up and saw that darkness had set into my apartment. I had just cracked the code and saw that the signals were being sent from a base near the Yukon River, Alaska. I made my way back to the lab and found Tony in front of his desk, slightly snoring on his keyboard. I let him sleep, the poor guy almost always walked with bags under his eyes, but not without taking a picture of him first to use for future occasions, and settled on finding Natasha or Steve. 

“Jarvis, can you alert Steve and Natasha that I found the coordinates?”

“Of course, miss Skye”

Silence stretched back over the lab, only the computers humming and the occasional louder snore from Tony interrupting it. 

“Miss Romanov and Captain Rogers have been alerted, they’re on their way.” 

As soon as he said it, Steve came barging in through the door, making Tony jump from his seat and falling onto the ground.

“Are you okay, sir?”

“Fine, Jarvis, I’m fine.” he said, nursing his hip. 

“What did you find?” Steve asked impatiently. At that moment Natasha came in, making a lot less noise than the blonde soldier.

“The signals are being sent from a base in Alaska. I have the exact coordinates in my phone.”

“It’s all good and well, but we also need to remove that chip from him, without going to a hospital for- obvious reasons.” Tony explained.

“I think I know exactly who to call,” I smiled ,”They already have done kind of a similar thing... but then it was in the eye and it was- gross. I’ll call them.”

I left the room and went on the terrace at the other side of the hall. It was chilly outside, but I needed the fresh air.  
I took my phone out and called the familiar number again. 

“Two times in two days? To what do I owe the pleasure?” Coulson’s voice sounded through the speaker. 

“We need Fitzsimmons’ help at the tower. Do you think they’re up for it?”

“I think they’ll be delighted to enter Stark’s tower.”

“Do you think it’ll be a good idea to let them into Tony and Bruce’s lab?

“Absolutely not.”


	12. Reunions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A big thanks to LadyWinterlight for pre-reading this story!!!
> 
> I do not own any of the Marvel characters.

I was waiting on the roof of Stark’s tower, when a quinjet, with a big SHIELD insignia on it (man, we’re so not stealthy), landed on the pad. The ramp descended, revealing two of my favourite people. 

“Skye?!” Jemma ran into my arms, leaving Fitz waiting for his welcome hug. 

“I’m so glad to see you again,” she said, eyeing me carefully, ”Do they feed you enough?”

“I’m okay, mom,” I joked. Giving her a last squeeze before completely backing away and turning to Fitz, who, with a big smile plastered on his face, hugged me too. 

“I can’t believe I’m at Stark’s Tower,” he fangirled. 

“The excitement wears off,” a familiar voice said. walking down the ramp, Coulson came into view.

I strode over to him and without hesitation, threw my arms around him. At first, he froze, surprised of this welcome, but then hugged me back.

“Everything okay?” He chuckled.

“I just missed you guys,” I answered, “I thought only Fitzsimmons were coming?”

“Yeah well, Hunter and I decided to hop along, because there’s some drama between him and Bobbi…”

I hummed in understanding.

“And I kinda wanted to see my favourite Avengers,” he said pulling away. 

“Ah, that’s better, how ya doin?” I turned around to the voice and saw Natasha and Clint walking towards us. 

“Not dead,” Coulson answered, a smile playing on his lips, “Too soon?”

“Naah, it’s been three years, even if we only knew like a week ago,” Clint patted his ex-handler’s back. 

“You don’t mind me and Hunter being here?”

“No, of course not. You’re always welcome here, Phil,” Natasha said, hugging him briefly, “I’m sure Tony would agree.”

“So where’s the subject?” Fitz asked all of a sudden.

“Fitz?!” Simmons slapped his arm with the palm of her hand.

“Right,” he cleared his throat, “Where’s the patient?”

I could hear a faint ‘Oh Fitz’ from Jemma and the corner of my lips lifted upward.

“Hey, no one missed me?” Hunter jumped down from the ramp.

“Of course, how could I not miss your sarcasm and witty remarks?” 

“You must be Lance Hunter,” Natasha said, holding her hand out.

Shaking her hand, Hunter answered: “Ah, I see my name has travelled far.”

“No, I used to work with Agent Morse.”

Hunter’s face fell, “Oh.”

“How is Bobbi?” Clint asked. 

Coulson, picking up Hunter’s discomfort, exclaimed: “We’re not here for some friendly chat. Let’s help the Captain’s friend.”

“He seemed fine, when we picked him up in an alley, but yesterday he completely went back to his program. We think he receives missions through a chip linked to his brain. He’s unstable,” Natasha began.

“We sedated him; it’s the only way to keep him in control,” Clint finished, “The problem is, we can’t bring him to a hospital without risking injury to the doctors. Skye told us you have experience. You two had removed a cybereye or something?”

“Oh yes, it was quite fascinating actually. We-”, Simmons started, “But that’s not our priority. Bring us to him and we’ll try to help. If I may say, it’s an honour to meet you both.”

“Pleasure’s all mine, Skye has told me a lot about you.”

“She did?” she asked, turning around to look at me, a smile decorating her face, “Well, let’s waste no time and meet the sergeant, yes?”

We walked to the medbay, where an operation table was already set, Bucky lying on it, under a lot of sedatives. Steve was by his side, biting on his thumb. He briefly looked up when we came in.

“Well, we’ll leave you to it, then,” Natasha said, walking out the door and dragging Steve with her. That last one was confused by her exclamation.

“Why can’t I stay?”

“Because they need to work in silence and-”

“I can be silent.”

“And,” emphasizing the and, she added,”we need to go check out that Hydra bunker.”

“So suit up, soldier!” Clint exclaimed.


	13. Memories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is sunday's chapter, because I probably won't have time to update tomorrow. Enjoy and thank you for all the love!!  
> A big thanks to LadyWinterlight for beta reading these chapters!
> 
> I do not own any of the Marvel characters

I ended up going with them, much to Clint’s dismay. He was saying how I would be hurt again, but Natasha shut him up, telling him I could handle myself.

“Thank you,” I nodded to the redhead, then I quirked an eyebrow upwards, looking at Clint.

“But you’ll be careful this time,” Steve said, breaking his silence. The whole flight he had been quiet, probably worrying about Bucky. I knew it had to be hard for him. I remembered how, after Ward dumped him in the ocean, Fitz had been in the hospital for weeks. I could only watch how he was, attached to the monitor, and we couldn’t know if he would make it or not. When we were reunited with Simmons, the night after we captured Ward, she told us he was alive, for now. And the days after his recovery were miserable; Simmons had left, going undercover in Hydra, and Fitz was mentally unstable, talking to Simmons as if she was still there.

“I will,” I finally said, locking eyes with Steve’s. There was a small glimmer flashing in his eyes. It passed so quickly that I would have thought I was hallucinating if it weren’t for the corner of his mouth curving slightly upwards, as if it was only for my eyes to see. 

“We’ll arrive in 5 minutes,” Hunter’s voice sounded through the jet, ”I’m dropping you off in a nearby clearing; wouldn’t want Hydra to spot us, before we even land.”

“Hey, thanks man for flying us,” Clint shouted back.

“No problem, mate.”

I shook my head, smiling at Hunter’s immediate familiarity with the Avengers. You could put him in any situation, in any group and he would walk away with a ton of new contacts. I would have to ask him someday how he does it. I felt the plane descend, the air getting thicker and my ears clogging; I swallowed to clear them again. 

“This is where you get off.”

Clint, followed closely by Natasha and Steve, jumped down. I turned on the edge of the ramp around and said, “Thanks, Hunter.”

“Anytime, lass. If you guys need me, call me over the comms.”

“Will do!” I shouted, hopping down onto the ground.

“Okay, here’s how we’re going to do this: Steve and Tasha, you’ll go through the front door,” Clint winked at them, causing Natasha to roll her eyes, “Skye and I, we’ll go through the sewers.” 

I made a face of disgust, making him chuckle.

“Natasha and Steve will hold them off, while we search for the command center.”

“They won’t stand a chance against the whole base?!” I said in disbelief.

“That’s why we’re here,” I turned to the voice, jumping slightly as I mistook the face before me for the face of the dear friend I lost, Tripp. ‘Get it together, Skye. Don’t start crying now,’ I thought as I swallowed away the lump in my throat. Not noticing my current mood, he presented himself with the name Sam Wilson. Steve embraced him in a typical man-hug and Natasha greeted him too. It was then that I noticed his goggles on the top of his head and the metal backpack he had on his back: The Falcon. Out of nothing, the inside of a jet appeared, a military jet, I presumed. Out of it came War Machine and a few other soldiers, armed with sniper rifles and a few with machine guns. 

“James Rhodes, at your service,” he greeted us with a soldier’s salute. He pointed to Wilson, “This guy here flew down when we were still in the air, just because he wanted to make an entrance.” 

“Don’t hate me, cause you ain’t me,” the ex-soldier responded, “And who might you be?” This question was directed to me.

I glanced at Steve. He gave me an encouraging nod. “Skye,” I extended my hand. He took it, flashing his teeth in a big smile, just like Tripp did. I clenched my jaw, trying to control my tears. They didn’t know, couldn’t know, just how Sam’s resemblance to Trip hurt me. They didn’t even know who Trip was, let alone what he looked like. I think maybe Natasha noticed me struggling for control while Steve spoke to Sam and Rhodey, but there wasn’t time to explain why I wanted to cry. Maybe another day. Maybe. 

“Are we gonna infiltrate a Hydra base or not?” Natasha pointed out.

“Right, Skye follow me!” Clint took my hand and led me away from the group, we ran towards the river, the trees covering us. Before the sewage entrance we stopped. Clint took out a small device I recognised as one of Fitz’s inventions: a laser that could cut through almost anything. We used it to escape the plane when Hydra came out of the shadows at the Hub. He brought it to the metal grilling that was covering the sewage pipe and easily cut through. 

“Here goes nothing,” he said as he stepped inside. I followed closely, not wanting to let him out of my sight; I had an uneasy feeling about this mission. We came to a ladder that went straight up to a panel and Clint asked me if I could sense if there were agents above us. I felt nothing, it seemed like no one was there. We climbed the ladder, but suddenly I felt a vibration, a big one. I grabbed the hem of his pants, stopping him from opening the small panel that led to the Hydra bunker. 

“What is it?” he whispered, looking down at me. 

“There are soldiers coming.”

And indeed, a few seconds later we heard the thudding of boots above us. They were probably running towards the main entrance. We stood still for a few more seconds until I was sure there was nobody left. He moved the panel to the side and climbed out of the hole. The inside of the bunker was bright, a contrast to all the other Hydra bunkers we ‘visited’. The walls and the ceiling were white. The floor used to be covered in white tiles, but were now covered with dirty footprints. 

“If these blueprints are correct, the command room should be two halls from here,” he told me quietly. 

We ran, making sure to be as silent as possible, until we found the door hiding what we needed. It was locked: password protected. I kneeled down and took my pack off my back. In one swift motion I took out a Stark phone, he had installed an app that could distinguish which keys had been pressed and in which order. It only took a few seconds for the app to do it’s job and we were in.

“It’s weird that there’s no one in here…” I stated, the uneasy feeling growing in my stomach. 

“You’re right, but there’s still something in this base, otherwise there wouldn’t be men here.”

“Let’s just try to disable Bucky’s chip.” I shook my head, shoving aside thoughts of possible scenarios of how this mission could end up. I sat down in front of one of the screens and begin sorting through the files until I found the ones I needed. I plugged a stick in the USB port; Tony gave it to me to help me wipe all the data. ‘We don’t need to decrypt it, we just need to delete it all’, he had said, while handing the stick over to me. Jarvis began doing all the work for me and in no time we were ready. 

“Did it work?” Clint asked through the comms. 

“He’s out, he was awake and now he’s lying on the ground. Don’t worry he’s not dead. It’s like by deleting all the files, you ‘rebooted’ his systems. This way we can remove the chip safely-er,” Tony responded. 

Clint and I had looked at each other for a moment, both happy that it was a successful mission and then we started to move back to the sewer. We rounded a corner and then another one and then…. I came eye to eye with the one man I wished to never see again.

“Ward?”


	14. Rescue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeeey, another chapter!!!   
> Thank you, LadyWInterlight, for beta reading this story!!
> 
> I do not own any of the Marvel characters

"Ward?” I couldn’t believe my eyes, there he was, the lying bastard, the man who tried to kill Fitz and Simmons. He kidnapped me, because presumably he ‘loved’ me. What kind of sick, twisted logic is that?! After I restrained my flare of anger, which would have led to a lot of hurt people, I looked at him with resentment still on my face. He looked worn out and beaten, his right eye was thick and black and he had a long cut on his nose. His eyes shot from me to Clint and back again. He dropped his gun on the ground and nudged it with his foot in our direction, putting his hand in the air in a non-threatening pose. That was… not like Ward…

“Skye, I need your help,” he breathed out. I glanced at Clint; he looked angry, but noticing my stare, he shrugged.

“Please,” Ward continued,”They have Kara….”

“Why would I help you? After everything you’ve done.”

“I know I don’t deserve it, but Kara does. She deserves more than what they’re doing to her now.”

“Kara?” Clint asked.

“Agent 33,” I clarified, “she was brainwashed by Hydra and I don’t know what happened to her after Puerto Rico.”

“She came with me. I promised to help her, but we were ambushed. Hydra took her back, I don’t know why…” He said.

“How do I know I can trust you?”

“Have I ever lied to you, Skye?”

Behind me, Clint coughed and pulled at my shoulder, so I was facing him. He kept a sceptical eye on Ward.

“You’re not really going to trust this man, are you? After everything he’s done to you,” he whispered.

“If Hydra does have Kara, then we must save her. Coulson told me about her: she was a good agent. And he’s right, he never lied to me, he just has this twisted way to keep the truth from me…”

“What if he is hiding the truth from you in a twisted way?”

“Clint I’m not asking you to come wi-”

“Skye, you know I would never leave you alone with this traitor. I’m coming with you.”

We both turned back to Ward, who was trying very hard to not eavesdrop.

“We’ll help Kara. Not you. Kara. And if you are lying, I will shoot four bullets and this time it won’t be in your side,” I whisper-yelled, trying to take a threatening voice. He nodded. Nailed it.

“Do you know where she is?” I asked, regaining my composure.

“I was on my way to- what’s he doing?” He pointed to Clint, who was talking on the comms.

“I’m talking to our team. They need to know we won’t be out in a minute, like we we’re supposed to,” he snarled, “And if you have a problem with that, deal with it.”

Ward’s mouth twitched in irritation, “Does he have to come with us?”

“Yes, Ward, he does.”

“Fine. Follow me,” he said, running to where we came from.

“What do you mean, you’re not leaving the base?” I heard in the comms,”You’re helping Ward?” Natasha shouted in disbelief.

“There’s a SHIELD agent somewhere in this base,” Clint responded, “We can’t leave her here.”

“Maybe he’s lying?” Steve growled.

“Yeah, I thought about that too, but I don’t think it’s true in this case.... Natasha, you met Ward at the academy, right?”

“Yeah, but… we didn’t talk or anything…” she answered.

“Well, I did. And he was an arrogant douchebag. This is someone else, this is a man fearing for the life of someone else. This is a man who has been loved and has loved. Trust me, Tasha.”

“Just… be safe.”

 

We were running down the halls for about ten minutes, when Ward abruptly stopped.

“I think she’s here…” he said.

“Are you sure?” Clint raised his eyebrow.

“It’s this room, I’ve already searched the other potential rooms.”

“How do you know in which rooms they would put her in?”

“Because this is not my first time here,” he answered, his voice wavering.

I closed my eyes, concentrating on the vibrations around me. Ward’s heart was beating off beat. It wasn’t lying, it was… worrying. Worry for what he could find behind this door. I moved on. There were a lot of heartbeats in this room, but one stood out, beating frantically. Like it was in pain and wouldn’t hold much longer.

“She’s there… but she’s not alone,” I looked at Clint. He nodded. I took my pack of my back again in search for the Stark phone. I held it in front of the keypad and waited for it to show me the code. I waited for a moment before typing the sequence, waiting for everyone to be ready. I pressed onto the keys and the door flew open. Ward barged in first, having the element of surprise, he managed to knock two agents out. I shot up from my spot behind the wall and fired a bullet in someone’s leg. Clint was behind me, his bow in hand and shooting arrows. Someone yanked me by my arm and threw me on the ground. Quickly I rose up, just in time to dodge an incoming punch. I used the millisecond he needed to draw back to recoil. My fist landed in his stomach, then his jaw. My hands went to my gun, but his were faster, he slammed the hilt into the side of my head, making me stagger backwards. He took this opportunity to fire. Fear gripped me and without much effort I made the walls around me shake. A block of concrete dropped from the ceiling, landing on the agent’s head and knocking him out. The bullet which was meant for me, was pushed back by the power burst.

“Skye? We need to go!” I heard Clint shout.

“Not before we find Kara!” Ward shouted back, fending off soldiers.

“What’s happening in there?!” Someone yelled over the comms, “The whole building’s crashing down.”

Another piece fell from above, only inches from me and yanked me out of my shock.

“Grant?!” A voice sounded from the next room.

“Kara!” he shot to the door, pulling at it. It didn’t budge. He slammed it in with his shoulder and ran inside. After a moment he came back with someone’s arm thrown over his shoulder. The woman , Kara, had a bloodied nose and a few scratches on her face. She seemed like she hadn’t eaten nor slept in days. He took her head in his hands and lovingly brushed her hair out of her face.

“You came for me.”

“Off course, I wouldn’t let those bastards have you.”

I cleared my throat at his words, he had been one of those bastards.

“Ward? We need to go,” I ordered. He turned to Kara and there was this softness in his eyes, that I had only seen, when I was lying in the med bay, still healing from the gut wounds. Slowly, he nodded.

“Yeah, can you walk?”

“Yeah, they didn’t break anything.”

That’s when my eyes fell on her hands, her knuckles were bare and her fingertips were all bloodied. Even if I wasn’t doing anything anymore, the building was slowly falling apart. We had to be careful where we stood, otherwise we would be buried underneath blocks of concrete. Cracks were beginning to form in the walls, everywhere voices were shouting.

We were halfway to the sewers, when a piece of the ceiling fell on Clint’s head, leaving a nasty cut. He fell down onto his hands and knees.

“Clint?!”

“Ouch,” he mumbled, ”last time I had this kind of headache was in 1998. And trust me I don’t want to relive that night.”

I sighed relieved ”Come on, we need to get out of here.” I helped him up, trying not to worry about the bleeding cut on his forehead. First we need to leave this place and then I’ll have the time to worry.

“Kara? Why did they take you?” I heard the specialist say when we were moving again.

“They wanted information about SHIELD, about what Whitehall was doing, about… you, Skye.”

Still walking, I turned my head.

“Me? Why?”

“I don’t know, something about Inhumans and Afterlife… I didn’t really listen, I was occupied,” her voice broke,” with other things.”

Clint opened the panel and waited for me to descend. Kara and Ward following closely behind. When we walked out of the sewers, Col. Rhodes and Natasha were waiting for us there. I had only a few seconds to be confused, because then the inside of a jet appeared. Revealing Steve and the rest of the team, although it looked like the group of military guys had reduced. I silently thanked them for their lives and entered the jet. After I made myself comfortable in a chair and the jet had started to fly, a man saying my name appeared out of thin air. Literally. In the moment everyone was too shocked to move, including me, he took my hand and the last thing I heard before I was teleported somewhere else, was Steve crying out my name.


	15. Together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas!!! Thank you for reading this story, it's always fun to write something that others like (and thank you for putting up with my grammar mistakes and bad English).  
> This (short) chapter is written in author's POV.  
> Errors are all mine.  
> I do not own any of the Marvel characters.
> 
> PS if anyone would like to help me by beta reading these chapters, they're always welcome :)

She was back in the jet and safe, Steve thought to himself. He wouldn’t admit it, not even when Natasha looked at him with a knowing smirk after he stared at Skye a bit too long, but she had become a very important person in his life. This girl, this woman had barged in his life unannounced and made herself a big part in it. After Peggy, he had never admired another woman... until Skye came along. After everything that had happened to her, she was still kind and caring. She would still wear a smile that had you grinning like a fool. Then he looked at Grant Ward. How could she still help him after everything he’s done? But the man was smiling tenderly at the black-haired woman, Kara, he remembered and he understood why, love had changed him for the better. He knew about Garrett and how he took Ward in when he was emotionally unstable, he manipulated him in becoming his puppet. Like Hydra had brainwashed Bucky, but not anymore. The mission was successful and he got an update from Tony in which he said that Skye’s two scientist friends were able to remove the chip securely. Lost in his thoughts, Steve’s reflexes were slower and so when a man appeared from a blue orb, the soldier could only cry out Skye’s name before she completely disappeared with him.

Steve’s eyes searched frantically for any sign of the brunette, but she had disappeared completely. Was that man enhanced like her? Were there more people who had been in contact with those crystals she talked about? 

Steve wasn’t the only one worried: Clint was muttering swear words, blaming himself for not being fast enough to stop the stranger, Tasha was telling him it wasn’t his fault, traces of anger on her face. 

“What should we tell to Coulson?” Clint suddenly said. Silence stretched over the jet. It was clear nobody wanted to think about the heartbreak and sadness that would be etched on the older Agent’s face. You would be blind to not notice the obvious father-daughter relationship between Skye and Coulson.

“Son of a bitch”, Steve had totally forgotten about Ward at this point until he spoke up,”I may have an idea who took her.” All eyes were trained on him. “Her father,” he explained further,”always spoke about this place where he could reunite his family. He told me about Afterlife. At first I thought he spoke about death and you know, what comes after it, but now I connect all the dots,” he looked at Agent 33,”You said something about Afterlife, didn’t you?” Kara nodded, “They were talking about this place where all the enhance people are… But they never found it!” 

“So we know the place, but we don’t know where it is,” Sam concluded.

“Assuming Afterlife is where Transporter took her,” Clint added.

“How do we find a ghost place?” Romanoff queried. 

“Together,” Steve exclaimed.

 

They were back at The Tower. Steve and Clint had pulled Coulson aside and told them the bad news. Coulson’s face fell for a short time, but then he composed himself and started phoning contacts. Tony was in his lab running facial recognition on cameras around the world, but it was in vain. Bruce and Jemma were monitoring Bucky, who was recovering from surgery in one of the guest suites and Fitz, who clearly felt he was no help in the search for Skye, busied himself by tinkering with a device. After Steve checked up on Bucky, he went down to the gym and pounded his feelings away on a punching bag. Did he have a habit of losing people in his life? He was lucky he found Bucky again, but the same could not be said about Peggy, Howard and the Howling Commando’s. Now Skye? Where was she? She could have said something in her ear device, for God’s sake! Steve abruptly stopped punching. Her ear device… There’s a tracker in it! He ascended the stairs inhumanly fast, the elevator would be too slow and bursted into the lab. 

“Her earpiece!” He yelled. For a moment everyone stared confused at him, but then Tony caught on and began tapping away on his computer, “Jarvis, track Skye’s earpiece, please.”

“On it, sir.”

Clint came over to him and clapped him on the back, “Good thinking, soldier.”

Steve could see in Clint’s eyes that a spark of hope had been lit. He was clearly worried something bad had happened to her. Not that Steve wasn’t worried. He smiled back at Clint and gripped his shoulder. 

“We’ll find her,” Steve said.

“We won’t stop until we do,” Clint clenched his jaw.


	16. Afterlife

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All errors are mine.
> 
> I do not own any of the Marvel characters.

I woke up with an excruciating headache. Blinking, I took my surroundings in and panicked when I didn’t recognise them. I felt the room shake slightly, but after I took a deep breath, just like Bruce had taught me, my powers calmed down. That’s when I felt a pricking sensation in all my body and looked down. needles were sticking out of my skin and I was half naked (What the hell?). A man crept out of the shadows and my eyes snapped to his face. It wasn’t the stranger who took me from the plane, this one was much younger… and cuter, I’ll give him that. 

“Who are you?” I enquired.

“Oh,” he seemed disappointed,”No one told you?” I stayed silent, so he continued, “I’m Lincoln, your transitioner. Welcome to Afterlife.”

“Well, Lincoln,” I snapped, “How come I’m half naked?”

“You had a lot of bruises, so we told it would be good for you if you healed.”

“Yes, but why am i half naked?”

His cheeks turned pink and he smiled coyly. “If you’re asking if I undressed you,” he placed a hand on his heart,” I swear I didn’t. We have people,” at my puzzled look he clarified, “nurses.”

“What kind of place is this?”

“Afterlife. The place for inhumans to change, learn how to control their powers and live happily and safe if they want.”

“If they want?”

“yeah, I don’t live here all the time. I’m studying to be a doctor,” he grinned proudly,” I’m just helping Jiaying occasionally with new people.”

“Who’s Jiaying?”

“Wow, you have a lot of questions,” he breathed out.

“Wouldn’t you be if you had been kidnapped by a complete stranger.”

“We didn’t kidnap you,” he waited,”but I can see your confusion…”

I glared at him, but then I realised something, “Wait, you said that the people here are free to go. Does that mean I can rejoin my friends?”

He hesitated, his hand rubbing his beard. “I don’t know, you’ll have to speak to Jiaying about that.”

“Who’s Jiaying?”

“She’s in charge of this place, helped me after I turned.”

The room was quiet again, my thoughts racing. I was curious about this place and I wanted to know more about what had happened to me, but I was dying to see my friends again. Already missing Clint’s horrible jokes, Tony’s inappropriate remarks and Steve’s warm smile (Wait, what?). Lincoln turned toward the exit. When he was on the threshold, I called him.

“Yes?” he looked back at me.

“Can somebody remove these needles?”

“I’ll send someone”, he chuckled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know the last two chapters were a bit shorter, but I've been struggling with a writer's block recently. I know where I want to go, but I have no idea how to get there... I'll try to make the following chapters longer again. And as always, thank you for reading this story!!


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All errors are mine.  
> I do not own any of the Marvel characters.

“Goddammit!” Tony’s fists struck the table.

“What’s wrong?” Clint’s head popped up from behind one of the other stations.

“They disabled her earpiece. I can’t get an exact location!”

“But you know vaguely where she is?” Clint asked, as a response Tony nodded. “It’s something, alright?”

“What happened? I heard someone yelling?!” the super soldier barged into the lab.

“We have a vague location on Skye.”

“If we knew more about who took her…” Tony started.

“Oh, no way! She hates the dude, I hate the dude!!” the archer exclaimed.

“You helped the dude!” 

“But I don’t like him!”

They bickered until Steve got annoyed and shouted: “Enough! He’s the only one who knows something about her father. He’s our best bet at finding her.” At these words, Tony smiled smugly at Clint, who tried to look angry, but then huffed ‘fine’. 

“Jarvis, send Ward to the lab,” Steve called out.

“Already did, Captain Rogers.”

“Still not used to it,” Steve muttered.

“Captain Rogers, Agent Simmons has requested your presence in the guest suite. Sergeant Barnes has woke up.” 

Steve looked at Tony and Clint, unsure what to do.

“Your friend needs you,” Tony said, “we’ll handle Ward.”

Steve gave him a grateful nod and ran off to reunite with his friend.

A few minutes later, Ward came through the door and Clint glared at him. Ward only smirked back, “Yes?”

“You’re going to tell us all you know about Skye’s parents.”

“What’s in it for me?” He slumped onto a chair and made himself comfortable.

“Nothing. You’ll just help someone who didn’t hesitate a second before helping you. Multiple times,” Clint answered.

The former Hydra agent sat up straighter and swallowed visibly. He looked at the ground and waited a moment before speaking. “His name is Calvin Johnson, now he goes by the name of Zabo. Don’t ask me why, I never asked. Her mother… He said she was killed, butchered,” He stayed silent,”The man’s crazy. He kills the people who are in his way to reunite his family.”

“Is he dangerous?”

“Yes… But he’ll never hurt her.”

“Do you know where he took her? or how he got in touch with a teleporter.” 

“The man has his contacts. It’s probably one of his affiliations. He’s very good at convincing people.”

\---

“Bucky?” Steve slowly opened the door to Bucky’s room. The man, formerly known as the Winter Soldier, was nodding to something Dr. Simmons said. His hair was long and hanging in front of his face, so he couldn’t see his expression, but he could tell by how his shoulders hung low, that the man was tired. They both looked up when Steve entered the room. 

“Steve,” Bucky said quietly. 

“I’ll leave you two alone,” Simmons walked out the door. When she passed the super soldier, she looked up to him, her cheeks turning red. 

“Thank you,” Steve called out. Turning to Bucky: “How are you feeling?”

“It’s hell, you know… Remembering everything you’ve ever done while brainwashed. All the people you’ve killed.” He looked down, hiding the tears that threatened to spill. 

“Hey,” Steve rushed to his friend’s side,”None of this is your fault. It’s all Hydra’s fault. And I promise we’ll catch those sons of bitches.”

Pain and misery was etched on Bucky’s face. He ran his robotic hand through his hair, pushing it out of his face. 

“I’m sorry,’ He looked up to Steve, “For what happened on the bridge… and the Triskellion,” He gritted his teeth.

“Yeah, you saved me from drowning.” 

“After I punched you until you were almost dead!” 

“But you still saved me, because that’s the man you are,” Steve place a hand on Bucky’s shoulder and shook it lightly in a comforting way. A small smile playing on his lips. Barnes couldn’t help but smile too. 

“Thank you, for saving me… again,” he said, referring to the first time Captain America saved him in Italy, “I do want to thank that hacker girl… euhm, Skye? Dr. Simmons said she was the one who found me and disabled the chip.”

“Skye was taken.”

Bucky’s head immediately shot up. 

“Who?”

“Her father… and some teleporting dude.”

Barnes frowned at the mention of a teleporting man.

“Yeah, powers are a thing now,” Steve huffed.

\---

“There’s no chance you’ll find her. It’s impossible! Hydra has been searching for Afterlife almost a decade now,” Ward proclaimed.

“What does Hydra want with them?” Tony inquired.

“They want their own Avengers. Well, more like a powered team who can battle the Avengers.”

Tony rose up, clearly annoyed at the lack of vital information. He stood in front of his seat, rubbing his eyes. Then suddenly he strode away towards his lab. His private lab. Clint shot a look at Ward who understood the message and returned to his room, under Jarvis’ surveillance.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Errors are all mine.  
> I do not own any of the Marvel characters.

It had been days now since Tony had stepped out of his lab. Sometimes he requested the presence of Bruce, but apart from him, nobody knew what was happening in Tony’s private lab. 

With every day that passed without any information on Skye, Steve grew more impatient. At least there was Bucky to help him through it now. Sam, who understood now the importance of Skye to Steve, regularly came at the tower to support his friend. Both of Steve’s friends had quickly grown accustomed to each other and even began to be friends, even if the Winter Soldier had wrecked Wilsons car (and had tried killing him, but hey, friendships have been built on stonier grounds). 

Everyone was curious to what Stark was doing in his lab. One day Clint had lost self-control and tried getting into it, but Jarvis, after several warnings, had sent Mark 24 to take him away. 

Nobody still believed that the facial recognition program would get a hit, but they kept it running in the background. In the days that had passed, Coulson’s team had returned to it’s base, taking Ward and Kara with them and life at the Tower had become dull. There was no way to find Skye, except if a miracle happened.

Two weeks after Skye had been taking, Hill contacted them.

“It has nothing to do with Skye, but Coulson’s team has found the location of Loki’s scepter. It’s dangerous and powerful and after SHIELD had fallen, Hydra took it. I already have contacted Jane Foster for a way to get Thor here, but it was not needed. Apparently he has been living in London with her,” She said through the HoloScreen, “But he’s our only way to get Loki’s scepter to where it rightfully belongs and would be the safest: In Asgard.”

“Why can’t Coulson’s team handle it?” Clint snapped.

“Because… They have their own problems. Another SHIELD has risen. And there were,” she put her fingers next to her head and made quotation marks,” ‘Traitors’ among them. Before you worry, they have everything under control. You know Phil, ever the diplomatic,” she shook her head.

“We could need the distraction. Maybe Tony will leave his lab for once,” Steve declared. They all nodded. Steve carried on: “Get Thor here and we’ll handle the situation in…?” Maria hadn’t told them the location yet.

“Sokovia,” the former SHIELD agent supplemented.

\---

After the meeting with Maria, Steve got on his bike and rode to St. Luke’s hospital. There he was met by two nurses who led him to room 407. He softly knocked on the door and waited for the familiar hum before opening it. Carefully he pushed the door open, afraid he might pull the hinges off and stepped inside. A pair of brown eyes looked at him in disbelief. 

“I thought you might’ve forgotten our date.”

“Me?” he feigned disbelief,”never.”

He moved over to the chair next to the bed and dumped himself down. He eyed her, a soft smile on his lips. She might’ve grown older, but Peggy still had that fire in her eyes she had when they had met. He studied the steady rhythm of her breathing and her chest rising and falling.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” She said, her voice strong, even after all those years.

“Because, you’re still beautiful.”

She coughed at his words. Steve turned around and took a pitcher from a table and poured some water in a glass. Before accepting the glass, she said teasingly: “When did you learn to speak to a woman?”

He chuckled in reply and let her finish her glass. Almost in an instant, Peggy’s smile fell and her eyes turned wet.

“You know Howard never stopped searching for you. It was me who made him give up,” She blinked back tears,”I’m sorry, Steve. If only I had looked harder, we might’ve found you. We might’ve had that dance,” she smiled up at him, her eyes shining.

“No, Pegs. You had a life to return to. You can’t blame yourself.” Steve took her hand and rubbed her knuckles, crude from all her years in the SSR, and later SHIELD. Slowly her eyes shut and she drifted off to sleep. He placed a chaste kiss to her crown and made his way to the door. 

\---

“Thor is on his way here with Jane and Darcy,” Natasha said, looking up from a tablet.

“Who’s Darcy?” Bruce asked.

“Foster’s intern,” Clint replied, “met her. She’s… nice.”

Natasha cocked an eyebrow at him, smirking. He shot her a look that said, ‘Don’t ask’. 

\---

A few hours after Steve’s return to the Tower, Thor, Jane and Darcy arrived. Thor immediately hugged his friends, genuinely happy to see them again. He introduced Jane to the team and she and Banner directly hit it off, talking about ‘sciency stuff’, as Darcy put it. She took an interest in Wilson and they were chatting quietly. 

“It is good to see you again, my brothers in arms,” he declared, a big smile plastered on his face, “It is good to finally have located Loki’s scepter. I will bring it to Asgard and there it will hurt no one.”

“What if Loki finds it?” Clint asked.

Thor’s smile fell. He spoke in a sad voice: “Loki is unfortunately dead. He gave up his life to save me and Jane from the Dark Elves.”

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Steve gently placed his hand on his shoulder, squeezing it.

Changing the subject, Hill stated: “The scepter’s in Sokovia. Coulson traced it back there. It has cost him a lot to locate it. He trusts you to find it,” she addressed the whole team.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> During these last two chapters, Skye's story follows the canon: she's in Afterlife, finding out about her parents, getting closer to them... And the SHIELD team is handling the situation with Gonzales. That's why I write more about the Avengers now, but don't worry, soon there will be a chapter from Skye's POV again!!


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all the kudos this story is getting. I'm happy to know you enjoy reading this story as much as I enjoy writing it!!
> 
> All errors are mine.  
> I do not own any of the Marvel characters

They had put me in a cell. My own mom had put me in a cell. She had told me she wasn’t the enemy, she only wanted to protect her people. But at what cost? Thousands of innocent lives lost by turning into stone, like how Tripp died. No, I would never help her turn the world into inhumans. I am an agent of SHIELD. My job is to protect the people from supernatural things they can’t understand. And that’s what I will do… if I can get out of this cell. They had put magnetic bracelets on my wrists that kept me from using my powers. I clasped the bars and shook them. A loud rattling sound filled the room. 

“Somebody help!” I shouted, knowing it would be of little use: everyone on this… where was I exactly? I guessed from the gentle rocking, that seemed to come from waves, that I was on a ship. But I would only know for sure if I got out of here. I shook the bars again, this time with more force, a small part of me hoping that I was strong enough to tear the bars from the walls. Steve could do it, I thought. From the corner of my eye I saw someone passing by the door, it had a small window installed in it. Then I heard some shouting, kicking and falling. I waited a few minutes before silence reigned again, but instead I heard tinkering at the door. I stepped away from the bars and my back pressed against the wall, I waited patiently for the individual to enter. Except it seemed like he couldn’t open the door, so (s)he shot the lock off. There, standing in the doorway, was Ward, his gun clasped tightly in his hands. He moved closer. At my scared expression (I tried to look tough, but Natasha hadn’t taught me yet how to act cool in stressful situations), he put his gun back in his holster and held his hands up, showing he didn’t want to hurt me. 

“You helped me save Kara,” he started, taking the keys from their place on the wall and opening my cell,”I help save you,” he paused, the cell still not opened,” At least if you promise not to shoot me.”

Ah, so he was still bitter about that. I heard a ‘click’ from the door and immediately barged out. Standing in front of him, I straightened my spine, making me look taller. But unfortunately he was still at least a foot taller. 

“Where’s the rest of the team. You didn’t come alone, did you?”

“Coulson’s trying to find the batch of crystals together with Fitz and that new, big guy.”

“Mack,” I clarified, “Where’s May?”

“She’s busy clearing the ship.” 

So it was a ship! I was right. 

“I need to stop Jiaying. Go help May and I’ll find my mother,” I said, already running off to God knows where.

“Wait!” He called and like he was guessing my thoughts, Ward said: “Do you even know where you’re going?”

I shrugged.

He took his pack of his shoulders and took out the most exquisite object man has ever created: a laptop. A shudder escaped my body as I slowly reached out to touch my dear old friend. I started hacking into the ship’s mainframe right away until I found the blueprints. One problem: I didn’t know where my mother was. I guessed into the control room. It would be the most logical place where she could be. Ward was standing guard at the door, waiting for me to finish. When I passed by him, he stopped me, handing me his pack.

“It will be more useful in your hands.” Then he darted away. I started towards the control room, the floor above me. 

\---

As I arrived in the control room, I saw Jiaying. She turned around, looking at me with sad eyes, before her face turned cold and hard again. Two men were accompanying her. They were carrying a box (supposedly, in this box there’s a batch of crystals) and disappeared through a door. With assured steps I moved to follow them, but was stopped by Alisha knocking into me. With a heavy thud I landed ungracefully on my backside. I looked up at her, her eyes turning white and with shoulder rolls she shedded four exact copies of her. I got back up and planted my feet on the ground. I wouldn’t give up. Not without a fight. Alisha #1 darted towards me with a cry. I used the force with which she hurtled towards me to throw her on the ground. Alisha #2 and #3 shared a glance and both charged at me. #3 managed to punch me in the jaw, when I was busy blocking #2’s incoming hit. #3 readied herself to knock again, but I ducked down and cricked my leg, tackling #2. Falling down she hit her head on a table, knocking her out. I knew that wouldn’t stop Alisha. Those were only clones of her. I needed to take down her real self, but the problem was: I didn’t know which one she was. Alisha #4’s fist had come out of nowhere, sending me down. I scrambled up, but alas, she kicked me in the ribs, keeping me down. Soon all the clones had joined, punching me in the face, kicking me in the guts. White spots entered my vision and I knew i wouldn’t last long. The ringing in my ears grew stronger and shut all the sounds from outside off. It was only when #1 was pulled from me that I dared to look up. Ward slammed his fist into her cheek and threw her at a wall. Then he jerked #4 (or was it #3? I don’t know, they all looked the same…) backwards and helped me stand up. 

“Thank you,” I muttered and I saw something light up in his eyes. A glint of hope. A shimmer of happiness. He smiled a half-smile and held one of the Alisha’s off. At that moment May and Lincoln entered. I smiled at Lincoln, glad that my friend decided to help me defeat Jiaying. As if he was guessing what I thought, he said: “I saw what she wants to do to the world. It’s wrong!”

May looked around. There were already Alisha’s standing back up. She kicked one, so the inhuman stayed down, but unfortunately, it wouldn’t be much help. 

“It doesn’t matter if we knock these ones down. They’ll only get back up! Where’s the original girl?” She shouted. Lincoln pointed upwards, to where Alisha was standing on a railing, being in a complete haze and her eyes white. May motioned to run upstairs, but Lincoln stopped her and put his hands on the pole, supporting the metal construction she was standing on. Electricity coursed to the metal and came in contact with the red haired inhuman, knocking her out. I wasted no minute and barged through the door Jiaying fled through only minutes before. I was standing on a deck, looking at my mother desperately trying to board the cases containing Terrigenesis on a jet. I tried to persuade her to stop her mad crusade, but she wouldn’t listen. Instead she put her hands on my temples, at first I thought in a loving manner, but it was only when I felt the life drain out of me, that I knew she didn’t care. She didn’t care about me, about my father. All she cared about was power. With the few power I had left I sent a power burst at the jet. It fell into the ocean together with the boxes of crystals. She tried again to drain my power and this time I was too tired to fight back. Slowly I closed my eyes, accepting my fate. Then my father came. He lifted his wife in the air, telling me he wouldn’t let me do this and broke her spine. heavily he put her down. He falled on his knees crying while holding his love’s face. My own heart broke. This was my family. 

\---

“Skye!” Jemma came crashing in my arms. I had already talked to Coulson. He held me in his arms while I cried. I forced a smile and hugged Simmons back. Fitz group-hugged us and even Hunter joined in. Bobbi and Mack were chuckling slightly at the scene. That night I layed in my bed, sad but grateful. Even after all the horrors I had been through, I had found my family. No not Jiaying and Cal I decided then, although I was grateful for my father and a part of me had grown to love him, but I had found my family in Coulson, May, Fitz, Simmons, heck, even Hunter, Bobbi and Mack. I had found my family in Clint, Stark, Banner, Tasha and Steve. With that thought I drifted off to sleep.

\---

The next day, after I had said goodbye to my father, he had asked for a full memory wipe to start over, to get a second chance, I said goodbye again to my team. I even went to Ward, I hadn’t forgotten what he had done, nor had I completely forgiven him, but what I had learned from the last few weeks is that everyone deserves a second chance. I said this all by shaking hands with him and he answered with a grateful nod, then left to reunite wit Kara. I would go back to the Tower, feeling that I rightfully belonged there and I was desperate to see my favourite superheroes again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Action scenes aren't really my forte, so please be gentle... :)


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Valentine's Day!! Another chapter because I love you guys! Seriously, thank you for all the kudos!!  
> I hope you enjoy this chapter and you can always leave kudos and comments ;) !
> 
> I do not own any of the Marvel characters.

A familiar voice greeted me when I came into the tower, my fingerprints still able to unlock the door: “Hello, miss Skye. Should I alert the others of your presence?”

“No, I’ll surprise them,” I answered to the AI, while walking to the elevator. I was scared, frightened. I hadn’t seen them in weeks. Maybe they wouldn’t want me anymore, but a big part of me didn’t believe that. Somewhere inside me I knew they would welcome me with open arms, just like they had done with Coulson. The elevator doors opened and I stepped inside. I waited patiently (and a bit nervously) until the lift opened it’s doors again, leading me in the common space. At the ‘ding’ I stepped out, biting my lip, and looked around. Clint, Natasha and Sam were sprawled onto the couch, watching television. I heard some of their conversation, but couldn’t quite understand it. Something about snow, twins and a castle? I wanted to speak up, walk to them, but my voice caught in my throat and my feet just wouldn’t move. It was Wilson who saw me first, only after two or more minutes (for a bunch of super spies they weren’t really alert). He frowned, opened his mouth and closed it directly, settling on patting Clint’s arm and pointing towards me. The archer seemed at first annoyed to be interrupted in his speech, but when he saw me, he ran to me and picked me up in his arms. Natasha followed suit, but she didn’t hug me, just smiled (That was enough for me). 

“We couldn’t find you! We thought… We-” Clint began. 

“It’s okay, I only knew where I was after one week or so.”

He ruffled my hair, laughing wholeheartedly. I swatted his hand and acted annoyed, but I was too happy to actually look annoyed. All of a sudden the elevator dinged and my heart stopped (figuratively, of course). I moved away from Clint and turned around. Everything seemed to play in slow-motion and the minute the doors opened, Steve ran to me and threw his arms around my small frame. I melted in his embrace and took in his warmth and smell. He smelled like home. A big group of people were streaming out of the lift. I looked up, my face still pressed in the crook of Steve’s shoulder (Luckily I had my heels on, otherwise I wouldn’t even come to his shoulder) and I recognised Bucky, Stark and… was that Thor?

I heard Tony mutter: “Just kiss already.” and flushed at the idea. I pulled away to greet the rest of the team and as I stepped away from Steve, I saw a residue of a blush on his cheeks. Tony took me in his arms and if I didn’t know any better, I think he tried hard to not tear up. Instead he exclaimed loudly: ”This calls for a party! Jarvis, organise a party please.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Come on, not a party, Stark,” Steve whined, “Let Skye take the time to settle in.”

The genius turned from Steve to me and pouted. “You don’t want a party, Skye?”  
I had to laugh from the absurdity of all of it. I mean, Iron Man was literally pouting and giving me sad, puppy eyes in the same room where Thor was laughing at Clint who couldn’t lift the hammer from the ground, Black Widow and the Hulk were shaking their heads at the scene and Captain America was standing so close to me, I could feel his breath in my neck. Tony was watching me with an amused smile, his head cocked to the side. 

“Okay, a party!” I clapped in my hands, then turned to Steve, giving him an apologetic look. I wanted to speak to him, tell him everything that happened during these past few weeks, but I couldn’t utter a word before I was dragged away by Tony mumbling something about how he wanted to show me a new program he had made. As I left the room, I saw confusion on Steve’s face and mouthed, ‘later’.

\---

“Wow, this is actually pretty cool”, I said, studying the blue holograms surrounding Loki’s actual scepter. Okay perhaps not so chill, since it stabbed Coulson and he died, but didn’t… (My life was getting confusing). 

“Yes, but do you know what it means?” Tony inquired, a dream glistering in his eye. 

“It’s… hmmm… emitting some kind of energy? I’m not really the bio-chem type, you’ll have to ask Simm-” 

“No no, I have banner, but look closer.” He took out a transparent plastic and tapped it in the air in front of the scepter. Then he moved to the center of his lab, and pulled up Jarvis’ mainframe. I was watching closely, confused to where he was leading this conversation. 

“This is Jarvis.”

I nodded.

“This,” he tapped the plastic in the air, a blue orb, resembling a brain appeared next to Jarvis’ orange algorithms, “is inside the scepter.”

He looked at me expectantly. I stared at the blue lines that formed the orb. They were moving constantly and I could see bursts of electricity flowing through the lines.

“It looks like… It’s thinking?” I uttered.

He bobbed his head enthusiastically up and down. 

“I have a dream, Skye. A world in a suit of armor,” he declared, his gaze somewhere far away.

“it sounds rather harsh and cold.”

He shook his head, moving forward, his arms stretched in front of him. “No! You don’t understand! This could change the world,” his head whipped to the entrance where Bruce walked in, his eyes on a tablet.

“Oh, I can-,” Banner motioned to the door.

Tony strode over to him and guided him by his shoulders to the middle of the room. 

“Don’t you know how many lives we could save with this thing?”

“What thing?” Bruce’s head turned from Tony to me and back. 

I gestured to the big blue orb in front of us.

“Tony, everytime someone tries to save the world, they end up wrecking it. Project Insight… Project PEGASUS…they’re all examples,” I spoke. But he was decided and nothing I could do would change his mind, that was the problem with people who had seen too much. Once the fear settled in, they would do anything to feel safe again. Because of the internal monologue I had, I didn’t hear what Tony had said to Bruce, but he was convinced. He would help him. I trusted Bruce to keep Tony in check. 

“Why show this to me? Even if I was convinced of your ‘quest’, I couldn’t help you. I know nothing of engineering or biochem,” I asked.

“I know…” he paused,” I just- I had to tell you,” he pursed his lips and shrugged,”Now don’t you have some dress fitting to do for tonight? I believe you have to look absolutely gorgeous tonight, with capsicle and all. Not that it would change anything, I mean, you could come in your sweatpants and I’m sure Cap would still send you heart eyes,” he winked.

I ignored his comment about Steve, suppressing my blush. Instead I asked: “It’s formal?”

“Of course it’s formal. It’s an Avengers party!”

I rubbed my neck, ducking my head,”I don’t really have… formal clothes.”

“What?” he deadpanned.

I shrugged uncomfortably.

“A beautiful women needs beautiful dresses,” he said gushing over me, “I’ll call Pepper and organise a shopping spree. You girls deserve a nice outing!”

I was dumbfounded by his reaction. But what could I have expected other than that? I glanced over to Bruce, who was as confused as I was at Tony’s mood change. He watched me expectantly. 

“Uh, sure?”

\----

“Can’t believe Tony’s paying for all of this,” Darcy said joyfully, taking dresses from a clothing rack.

“Well, he feels kinda bad for us women in a tower full of testosterone…” Pepper explained. I still hadn’t talked much to her, but she still smiled at me and made me feel welcome.

“Which I don’t understand, ‘cause the number of women in the Tower are growing,” Tasha laughed. I looked up from behind the clothing rack I was currently browsing through. All the dresses were beautiful, but I just couldn’t bring myself to pick one as soon as I saw the price tag. 

As if she was guessing my thoughts, Pepper walked over to me and said: “Don’t worry about the price tag, Tony insisted on funding this afternoon.”

“It’s just- I-,” I closed my mouth, staring intently at the dresses. She rubbed my back soothingly, without words, this women which whom I had never really held a conversation seemed to understand me. My gaze shifted to her face, her red lips were pursed in a smile and a playful glint was shining in her eyes. 

“Now I believe a certain captain’s going to be there too tonight, so you have to look completely ravishing.” 

As soon as those words came out of her mouth, I felt heat rise to my face, coloring my cheeks red. Because no words came out of my mouth, I just started laughing awkwardly, earning a few glances from the vendors.

“Steve and I- Just friends. Good friends. Pfft… never- he-”, I stuttered, getting a few playful smirks from my friends, as if this situation wasn’t awkward enough as it was.

“let’s just- get back at trying on dresses,” I muttered finally. 

“yes, but you still have no dress!” Darcy exclaimed, quickly picking out a few dresses and shoving them in my arms. I stared at the dresses for a long time, then sighed defeatedly and strutted to the fitting rooms. Pepper and Natasha walked with me and settled in the seats in front of my fitting room’s door. 

I put on the first dress, but immediately took it off because I really didn’t like how it looked on me. I put on the next dress and admired my reflection. I didn’t look that bad. I opened the fitting room’s door and showed her dress to the two redhaired women. Pepper shook her head. 

“It’s not you,” she craned her head to look at the dresses hanging in the fitting room and pointed one out,”try that blue one.”

“And then the green one,” Natasha added swiftly. 

I closed the door and worked my way out of the red dress. When I was in the blue dress, a v-line pencil dress that stopped at mid-calves, I opened the door once more. Pepper pursed her lips (I noticed she did that a lot) and nodded slowly. Natasha cocked her head, then repeated: “Try the green one.”

After I had put on the dress, I showed it to Pepper and Tasha. Darcy had sidled up to the russian and clapped her hands enthusiastically at my apparition. I felt comfortable in this dress, a dark green one that stopped right under the knee. The fabric was soft and flowed beautifully when I twirled around. There were still dresses I hadn’t tried on, but I knew this one was the one I needed.


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All errors are mine.
> 
> I do not own any of the Marvel characters.

After a coffee in a nice and cosy coffee shop we returned to the Tower. Of course we didn’t enter through the front door, it was crowded by a bunch of fans. Not that I felt better than them, after all, I had been one of them myself. I blushed at the thought and couldn’t believe where I was now: with the Avengers. We made our way in the Tower through an entree hidden in a small passageway on the other side of the road. As we stepped out of the elevator and into the common room, Clint, Thor and Sam raised an eyebrow at the large amount of bags we carried with us. But surprisingly Thor ran over to us and asked to see what we bought. Jane was taking a dress out of one of her bags, when Natasha put her hand on the scientist’s arm, stopping her from revealing the piece of clothing. 

“You’ll see tonight,” she grinned and walked over to Clint to peck him on the lips. At the sight, Thor pulled Jane into his arms and kissed her too. Next to me, Darcy rolled her eyes and pulled at my arms.

“Come on, we’ll leave those alone. We have a party to attend to and I want to look absolutely smoking hot!” she quipped, “and you do too!” I laughed at her urging, but followed her to my room anyway.

\---

It was already four hours later when we were finished. I had the green dress on, my hair gently curled and Darcy had applied a very thin layer of makeup on my face. She was wearing a red dress that hugged her curves perfectly, while still being classy. She looked absolutely smoking hot, her words, not mine. It was already nine pm, so the party was getting started. Together we walked to the elevator and I was laughing at something that Darcy had said, when I noticed something moving out the corner of my eye. I turned my head to look at the figure, two figures actually: Steve and Bucky… in shirts and jeans. Why God, Why? Steve’s shirt was dark blue, bringing out his eyes and complimenting his biceps. I didn’t notice I was staring until Darcy slapped my arm and I jumped. 

“I never got to properly thank you,” Bucky said walking to us, he was clad in a grey shirt. He was less muscled than Steve, but it was still obvious he also had some form of super soldier serum. 

“It was nothing,” I said smiling, my eyes briefly wandering over Steve. Bucky stretched out his real arm and we shook hands. The elevator door pinged open and after a grateful nod he stepped inside with Darcy, starting conversation with her. Steve and I followed them in. He leaned in, telling me quietly: “You look beautiful tonight.”

I turned my head, realising our noses barely touched one another and looked at him quizzically. He flushed: “Not just tonight. You look beautiful every night- all the- always”, he stuttered, ducking his head to hide his flush. 

I laughed softly: “Thank you, you don’t look so bad yourself.” 

“Oh my god, the tension is killing me!” Darcy exclaimed suddenly, making Bucky snort and Steve’s face and mine red. Fortunately, the elevator door opened again to the common room, revealing a group of around fifty people spread throughout the lounge. Steve, bowing, motioned with his hands to the room, letting me exit the elevator first. He waited ‘till Darcy had stepped out to walk next to Bucky. He whispered something to him, placing his hand on Bucky’s bicep and Bucky nodded, an anxious expression on his face, but after his friend’s words he relaxed a bit. 

I looked around. Tony was talking animatedly with Rhodey, flailing his arms wildly around. Natasha was curled up next to Clint on a couch. Thor was dancing with Jane, twirling the scientist around. People were laughing, drinking and overall having a great time. Darcy suddenly took my hand and led me to the bar, immediately ordering a martini for the both of us.

\--- 

A few hours had passed and I had already consumed a few drinks. That was why I was striding towards Steve. My mind was still perfectly clear, I just had a sudden burst of courage. He was gulping a drink down that made him stagger backwards and shake his head. Thor was pouring the same drink in some old man’s glass. ‘That won’t end well,’ I thought. If that drink was too strong even for Steve, it had to be something from Asgard and a ‘mortal’ wouldn’t be able to handle it. Just like I predicted, when the man finished his drink he fell onto the ground shouting ‘excelsior’. A few people, including Steve jumped to his aid and the Soldier caught him before the man’s head could hit the ground. He opened his eyes again with a loud ‘whoop’ and laughed while standing back up. 

“That was one hell of a drink,” he said, sitting back onto his spot. 

I walked over to Steve and touched his arm gently. I wetted my lips at the feel of his muscles and looked up at him,”Would you like to dance?”

He looked shocked, then happy and nodded. “Yeah, off course, sorry, I should have asked it…” He frowned looking down. 

“Hey, Steve, it’s not the 20th century anymore. A woman can ask a man to dance with her,” I laughed. 

“Yeah, I didn’t mean to-”

“Come on, let’s dance!”

Steve placed a hand on my lower back and a burst of electricity shot through my body. He led me to the dance floor and from the corner of my eye I saw Tasha, Clint and Tony grinning. Fucking idiots... who I still love. 

“Penny for your thoughts?” 

“My thoughts are worth more than a penny. The economy nowadays isn’t what it used to be, Steve,” I joked. 

“Yeah, make fun of the old man…” He teased.

“You still look fine to me.”

What did I just say? Perhaps I had one drink too much. Smiling, he raised an eyebrow at my comment, but didn’t say anything. Instead he pulled me closer. I felt a constant warmth where his hand touched my back and something started fluttering in my belly (stupid butterflies). We danced together for a few songs until my feet started to hurt (stupid heels) and I had to sit down. He accompanied me to the small seating space, where the two assassins were snuggled together. People were starting to leave and around one in the morning, our whole group had settled in the lounge area, drinking beers and laughing at jokes.

“So, how does it work?” Clint asked, pointing to Mjolnir resting on the table, “I don’t believe in ‘the one who is worthy shall bear this hammer’.”

“Be my guest,” Thor grinned, motioning to Mjolnir.

Clint rose up from his seat, igniting some angry muttering from Tasha, rolled up his sleeves and placed his hands on the hilt of the hammer. With all his strength he pulled, but the hammer didn’t budge. With an angry sigh he moved back to his seat and said:”There has to be some trick…”

“Let me try, Legolas”, Tony puffed out his chest, much to everyone’s amusement, and strode over to Mjolnir. He gripped the handle tight and pulled in vain. Then he straightened his spine again and ran his hand through his hair, eyeing the hammer.

“Wait here,” he motioned with his hand to stay put. Maria glanced around the group with a small smile on her lips. She wasn’t the only one trying to hide her amusement. Next to me, Steve was hiding his grin behind his hand. Tony reappeared again, now with a bionic hand. The genius tried again, igniting his propulsors to help him pull the hammer, but it still didn’t move. At one point Rhodey, also with a bionic hand, helped him. Mjolnir was still lying on the glass table.All the while Thor was cracking up, a deep belly laugh escaping his lips. Jane, who was lying on his chest, shook with his laughter too, but she didn’t seem to mind. Bruce tried too, but with no luck. Then after some encouraging, Steve got up too and tried lifting the hammer. Except he did, well not entirely, but Mjolnir moved under Steve’s grip. It lifted only a tiny bit from the glass table, but enough for me to feel the vibrations in the room shift for just a second. I glanced at Thor and he had noticed too. He looked worried, but when Steve gave up and sat back next to me, Thor laughed it off, noticing nobody had noticed. Except I had noticed: Steve was worthy of the Hammer, but why couldn’t he lift it entirely, that was the important question, but it escaped my thoughts as soon as we started with a new topic.

Clint nudged Natasha.

“Come on, are you worthy of Mjolnir?” 

“Oh no, that’s not a question I need answered,” Tasha chuckled.

“I wanna try!” 

“Darcy, please,” Jane pleaded.

“What? I want to know if I’m worthy of mieu-mieu,” Darcy stated, causing Thor, Tony and Clint to burst out in laughter. She ignored them and cracking her fingers, she then proceeded to place them on the hilt and pulled it. 

“Shit! It won’t move!” She stomped her foot down and went back to her seat. At the same time a weird noise sounded, like a crash of something. I saw Maria place her hand on the gun that was hidden beneath her dress on her thigh and I closed my eyes, feeling the vibrations all around me. Except there was a disturbance, something moved. 

“Something’s not right,” I muttered. Steve’s eyes shot to me.

Something, someone was moving. Creepingly. And towards us.

A Stark bot flew through a glass pane on the other side of the room. It was dismembered and broken. Another bot followed, stepping through the hole the previous bot had made. It’s shoulders were hunched and loose wires were hanging from him. His arms hung limply at his sides and he trudged toward us. His hand gripped the head of the broken bot and I hadn’t noticed he was talking the entire time. I only heard his last words before his other hand shot up and numerous bots were flying through the glass panes and attacking us.

“You’re all puppets, tangled in strings. But there are no strings on me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you like it? Let me know in the comments below and kudos are always welcome! ;)


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All errors are mine.
> 
> I do not own any of the Marvel characters.

“You need a place to lay low,” Maria’s voice sounded over the video call. “The press is surrounding this building and Tony… they are kinda blaming you for all the,” she licked her lips,” Ultron stuff…The few safe houses we had left after Shield are compromised or already taken.” 

Impatiently, I asked: “How are Coulson and the team?”

“They are fine, Skye. But it wouldn’t be a good idea to go to them now. They are on lockdown.”

I nodded, biting my lip.

“They’ll be fine, Skye.” I felt Tasha’s hands on my shoulders. She squeezed reassuringly and gave me a small smile.

“So where do we go?” Sam asked.

“Don’t worry, guys. I know a place,” Clint’s voice came from the cockpit. After a brief goodbye, Tony disconnected from the video call and I settled in between Steve and Natasha. The soldier was talking to Bucky, who was still reeling from the encounter with the weird twin. Wanda? I didn’t know how she did it, but everyone except Clint had been influenced by visions or nightmares or… I didn’t even know what they were. While I was in trance, I saw Tripp. It was nice, he felt real for a moment. My father was there too, Jiaying also. Actually the whole team was there. But after a moment, it seemed like the dream was slowly breaking. We were all in the lounge back at the Playground. Beer bottles in our hands and we were laughing at a joke Tripp had said. But I saw glimpses of violence and death out of the corner of my eye. It was unnerving. Everything seemed so happy, but a constant feeling of dread was looming over me. I felt shivers run down my spine just by thinking about it. I looked around. Darcy, Jane, Pepper and Maria were still at the Tower. Rhodey was gone too, probably contacting some spokesman from the army. Bruce was curled up in a corner of the jet with headphones clamped on his head. He was listening to classical music. I didn’t have to use my powers to know that, he had told me that once when we were meditating. The poor guy had had the worst encounter with the twin; she had sent him on a rampage,breaking down almost half of an African city. Natasha was eyeing him carefully, afraid he might change any moment. Coulson had told me how, before the battle of New York, the Hulk had thrashed the Helicarrier and Natasha was in the middle of that mess. 

Sam had disappeared a few minutes ago in the cockpit, probably offering some company to Clint, who was flying this jet. Tony was looking at Bucky’s arm, because the latter had broken it after he came out of his trance. I couldn’t even fathom what he had been through. I was glad Steve had found him. He had closed his eyes, his breathing even, but I knew he wasn’t sleeping. But still, I took the opportunity to study him. From his long eyelashes to his big, calloused hands. I remembered that night, a few weeks ago, when he had found me in the gym and I had told him everything. His hands had taken mine and he listened. I was startled by a sudden voice:”We’re here.” 

I felt the plane descend slowly and carefully and when Clint opened the ramp, I peaked outside. We were in a clearing surrounded by trees. Through the trees I could see a field and a bit further I could distinguish a house. Another safehouse? I looked over to Clint and he seemed uncomfortable, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. Natasha placed a gentle hand on his other arm and whispered something to him, something that made him visibly relax. He was quiet all the way to the house and we followed him, no one speaking a word. Everyone was waiting for an explanation. Clint reached a hand out to the doorknob and before opening the door, he hesitated. A comforting hand on his upper back from Natasha made him turn the knob. He stepped over the threshold and a dog came running towards him. Clint knelt down to greet him, but because of the force the dog jumped at him, he was knocked backwards on his ass, rather ungracefully. The dog took the opportunity to lick the archer’s face and Tasha patted the golden labrador’s back. 

“Lucky?!” a voice sounded from inside the house, footsteps scurrying towards us, but stopped suddenly,“Clint?” 

We stared at each other quietly. A young black-haired woman stepped out of the house, grabbing the dog’s collar, so Clint could stand up. Then she noticed us, her eyes raking the team and I saw recognition in her eyes when they passed Iron Man, Thor and Captain America. She stood there for another few seconds, then threw herself in Clint’s arms. Tony whispered something in Wilson's ear that made him shrug his shoulders. I glanced at Natasha, but she didn’t seem to mind that the girl was hugging Clint so long and ardently. 

“Guys,” Clint started, pulling away from the girl, “This is Kate, my sister.”

It was still silent.

“Adoptive sister,” she added. I saw Tony opening his mouth to say something snarky, but it seemed he couldn’t find anything so he closed it again. It was Thor who began introductions: “Ah, what a pleasure to meet Barton’s family, even if you are not bound by blood.”

The girl, Kate, seemed confused by Thor’s formal introduction, but she shrugged it off with a small smile and turned back to Clint. 

“So… what brings you here with your misfits team.”

“Well, we have made ourselves a new enemy and we can’t go back to the Tower.”

“You’re planning on staying here?”

“Well,” he rubbed his neck, a look of shame on his face, “Yeah…”

“Now you have to time to see your sister?” She put her hands on her hips and with each passing moment, I grew to like this girl.

“You’re not still mad about last christmas, are you?”  
“Of course I am, I had to spent it alone! At least I had Lucky with me…”

“I’m sorry, next time…”

“You better,” she cut him off, then went to hug him again. She let out a deep breath and swirled on her feet, facing us. “Well, I suppose you’ll all need a room to stay?”

“Actually, I don’t,” Thor interjected,”there are some things I need to take care of, but thank you for the offer.” He bowed courteously and swiveled his hammer around until it pulled him into the sky.

Kate gawped at the sight, her mouth hanging open. Clint quickly pushed her jaw back up. 

“Anyway,” she cleared her throat,”we don’t have enough rooms, so some of you guys will have to pair up.”

______

And of course, the ones who had to pair up were me and Steve. Well okay, Clint and Natasha too, but they were already together. Sam and Bucky also shared a room, but they didn’t have to sleep in one double bed, inside their room there were two standard beds. I wasn’t totally opposed to the idea of sharing a room with Steve, certainly now, when he exited the bathroom, a cloud of damp following him and only a towel around his waist. I trained my eyes on a picture on a wall on the other side of the room. It was of Clint, Kate and two other, older people. Probably their parents. I wondered how he lost contact with them, because Coulson had told me that Clint was picked up by Shield from a circus. Was he sent back and had he run away, sick of going from one foster home to the other? But they looked so happy on the picture, everyone smiling broadly. Or had something else happened? My thoughts were cut off, by Steve speaking.

“Sorry, I had forgotten my change of clothes. Well actually Clint was nice enough to lend me some, because I only had my suit on me.”

My eyes snapped up to his. Steve wouldn’t possibly fit into Clint’s T Shirts. The super soldier had a much broader torso. One that I could see now, a few drops of water dripping down his abdomen. I hummed in response, not trusting my voice yet to speak. I continued drying my hair, since Steve had let me take the first shower. Which I gladly accepted, because I hated cold showers and after all, the warmth was welcomed by my sore muscles. 

A few seconds later, Steve reappeared from the bathroom, now clad in jeans and a light blue sports T shirt which was obviously too small for him, but then again, I didn’t see much difference with his other shirts. Didn’t he know that there were clothes in his size? 

“Let’s get downstairs, shall we?” I offered, “I can already smell the food.” 

_____  
Luckily, Kate had a long dining table, otherwise I wouldn’t have known how we would’ve all find a place to sit. After a warm meal that was devoured by every single one of us (What? don’t judge us. We tried stopping a bad guy today. You would be hungry too.) the team was dispersed throughout the house. Steve and Sam were doing the dishes. Clint, Kate and Natasha were in lounging on a couch. Clint and Kate chatting happily, all the while Tasha, with her head in Clint’s lap, was reading a book. Tony and Bruce were still seated at the dining table. And Bucky and I, were sprawled onto the ground, petting Lucky who was wagging his tail merrily. 

“He cares about you, you know,” Bucky said out of nowhere. I snapped my head up, unable to say anything. He waited a moment for a reply, but since he wouldn’t get any from me, he continued: “Last time I saw him looking at someone like the way he looks at you, was with Peggy. He’s just scared that’s all. Scared of losing you too.”

“He won’t,” I heard the words slipping from my mouth as if on impulse. He smiled kindly.

“I know.” Silence stretched over us and was only broken by Lucky nudging my hand, because unknowingly I had stopped scratching behind his ear. Bucky rose up.

“Well, I’m off to bed then.”

A few mumbled goodnights were heard and he retreated to the room he shared with Sam. I was left on the ground. A thousand thoughts crossing through my head, but only Bucky’s words were important to me. ‘He cares about you.’ A flutter was felt in my belly and I smiled down at Lucky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait!   
> As always, kudos and comments are welcome!


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All errors are mine.
> 
> I do not own any of the Marvel characters.

Everyone had gone to bed. I was lying in the middle of the night with only my thoughts as company. Next to me, Steve was sleeping soundly. His side rising and falling in the rhythm of his breathing. His heart beating slowly, like the heart of a sleeping person would. Until it wasn’t anymore. It started as gentle stirring, but soon he trashed against the covers, his heart beating frantically.

“Steve?” I gripped him by the shoulders and shook him lightly. “Steve, please wake up. It’s just a dream.”

With a gasp he opened his eyes and reached for my face with his fingers. Tentatively, he brushed them against my cheek, as if he had to make sure I was real and one wrong movement would scare me away.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked. He nodded, pushing himself up, so his back was leaning against the headboard. 

“It’s the vision again, the one Wanda had given me,” he paused, calming his breathing,”I’m back in the 40’s. At the Stork club. The war’s over and Peggy’s there. We dance until I turn around and the club’s empty.”

“You miss her,” I acknowledged. 

“I miss all of them.”

“You want to go back?”

“That’s the thing. I did once. I had this homesickness. A longing for a life I could’ve never had.”

I nodded my head understandingly.

“But now I’m not sure anymore ‘cause if I never had gone under that ice for 70 years, I never would’ve met,” his eyes locked with mine,”you.”

A sigh escaped my lips and I rested my forehead against his. In the silent of the night, I only could hear our breathing and my loud heartbeat. He brushed his nose against mine and tilted his head, our lips barely not touching each other. He leaned forward, but flashes of Ward and Myles crossed my mind. I ducked my head at the last moment and whispered: “I can’t.”

He brushed his thumb against my temple.

“Not yet.”

He placed a chaste kiss on my forehead and whispered back: “Okay.”

Instead I snuggled into his side and I fell asleep with my head against his chest. His heartbeat filled my dreams and until morning, there weren’t nightmares plaguing us anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's a really short chapter and I'm sorry, but I haven't really gotten the time to write in the last few days, but I'm on holiday now, so I'll be able to write more!!
> 
> Comments and kudos are always fun!!


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All errors are mine.
> 
> I do not own any of the Marvel characters.

Smoke filled my lungs and debris was lying all around us. Ultron had been successful in activating his plan. A big chunk of earth was now ascending into the sky and we were still on it. Innocent people too. Wanda and Pietro had joined us against Ultron, but we still hadn’t been able to stop him. I was looking at the landscape that was slowly disappearing from view beneath us. Steve was a vast presence behind me and I was leaning slightly into his chest. Natasha joined us, her batons still clutched in her hands.

“The next wave’s gonna hit any minute. What have you got, Stark? “ Steve asked over the comms. 

“Well, nothing great,” Tony announced,”Maybe a way to blow up the city. That'll keep it from impacting the surface if you guys can get clear.”

“I asked for a solution, not an escape plan,” the soldier said, his voice firm. 

“Impact radius is getting bigger every second. We're going to have to make a choice.”

“Cap, these people are going nowhere. If Stark finds a way to blow this rock... “ Natasha spoke up. I kept staring at the horizon, I already knew where this conversation was going.

“Not 'til everyone's safe.” That was Steve, always trying to save everyone. 

“Everyone up here versus everyone down there? There's no math there,” I said before Nat could speak up. She nodded, as if I had taken the words from her mouth. 

“I'm not leaving this rock with one civilian on it.”

“She didn't say we should leave,” Steve turned to look at Natasha, who was motioning towards me,”There's worse ways to go. Where else am I gonna get a view like this?”

She gazed in front of her. Steve placed his hand on my upper arm and I snaked my arms around his torso, resting my head on his shoulder. Natasha was right, there were worse to go. At least now I wasn’t alone: I would be dying next to my friends. I heard Bucky walking to stand next to us. He shared a look with Steve and they both nodded in understanding. There were worse ways to go. 

“Glad you like the view, Romanoff. It's about to get better.” 

In front of us, the Triskelion appeared out of the clouds. I let out a breath of relief and squeezed Steve tighter for a second. I looked up at him and I could see he was relieved as well. He could save them. He placed a kiss on my forehead and dashed away, Bucky running behind him. I set to work myself and tried to collect as much habitants as possible and led them to the saving shuttles the Triskelion had deployed. 

“How did you pull that off?” Natasha asked over the comms. 

“I may be a dead man, agent Romanoff. But I still have friends,” Fury responded. 

“It was a nice little project direc- Age- I don’t know what to call you anymore, sir,” Coulson’s voice rang over the comms. 

“You’re the director now, Coulson, you choose.”

“Is the team with you?” I asked. 

“May’s back at the Playground, but Fitzsimmons and Mack are here.” 

I felt myself smile subconsciously at the mention of my friends. Who would’ve thought? A little more than three years ago I was an orphan with friends I had never met in real life. Were they even my friends? And now, I have people who support me and who genuinely love me. 

A dash of red, white and blue appeared in my vision. Steve and Bucky were fighting of Ultron’s henchmen all the while I was trying to escort the people to the shuttles. They were trying to hit the Triskelion now. I sent a seismic wave towards them and a few of the robots fell back down onto the ground. 

“Show ‘em what we got,” Coulson said suddenly and the Triskelion started shooting at the bogies. Rhodey appeared in his War Machine suit and soon Iron man joined his friend. A shuttle was on its way to the ship, when an Ultron bot crashed into one of its propellers and it came crashing down with people screaming in it. Luckily, Stark was fast enough to catch them and to take the shuttle himself to its destination. Afterwards he proceeded to help his friend to take out the bots flying into the sky. 

“This piece of rock will still come crashing down if we don’t blow it up,” Wanda shouted over the comms.

“Stark, you think you can find a way to destroy it?” Steve asked sternly, but the exhaustion from fighting was clear in his voice.

“On it, capsicle.” 

From the ground I could see Tony leaving Rhodes and the Triskelion and disappearing beneath this flying rock. All the while people were streaming into the shuttles, hurriedly and scared it would go away without them, I looked around and saw Ultron getting ahold of Thor. I would’ve gone after him to help, but then I noticed Vision behind the Metal villain with Mjolnir clutched in his hand. With one powerful swing he sent Ultron crashing into a building not far from me. 

“Got it!” Tony exclaimed loudly from below, ,”create a heat seal. I can supercharge the spire form below.” 

“Yeah, but Ultron’s going for the switch,” Thor said nervously.

“Everyone, go to the church. We need to keep Ultron away from it until Tony’s able to supercharge the spire,” Steve ordered. Soon, Thor, Steve, Bucky, Wanda, Pietro, Vision, Bruce (well, the Hulk), Natasha, Clint and I were all circling the core and waiting patiently for Ultron’s army to come. And Indeed, they attacked, but we fought back harder. Slowly, the robots were retreating after the Hulk had slammed his giant fist in Ultron and he bursted apart. Rhodey shot the strays who tried to get off this piece of rock. Steve ordered the Avengers to get everyone on the boats and he and Bucky would find the stragglers. 

Wanda and I were left at the core to protect it, because we were heavy hitters. After several more minutes Thor joined us. He had to wait for Tony’s sign to hit the core and implode the flying city. I was sent to the lifeboats, they didn’t really needed my help anymore. While I was running back to the shuttles, I noticed Ultron in a quinjet, shooting randomly and then I noticed Clint who was crouched behind a wall, a little boy clutched in his arms. I saw the defeat in his eyes, while he positioned himself to protect the boy from incoming bullets. From the other side of the street I saw Pietro readying himself to start leaping in front of Clint and the boy. 

As in slow-motion, I stretched my arms out, power rising from my belly and surging through my veins. Last time I had used so much power was when I sent the quinjet with terrigenesis crashing into the ocean. At least now I hadn’t a mother who was seeping all my life out of me. The jet flew backwards and Hulk smashed it down. Before I crumbled onto my knees, I saw Pietro standing confused in front of Clint and then they both stared at me. In a matter of seconds Steve was beside me and helped me back up. He picked me up bridal style and carried me into one of the shuttles. Then he laid me gently onto a few benches and crouched next to me. With droopy eyes I looked at him. He had a cut on his forehead and a bruise on his jaw. I gently placed my fingers against the purple skin and he, in return, brushed a few hairs out of my face. My hand glided to his neck and I carefully pulled him to me. His eyes searched mine, but I reassured him with a small smile. One he returned immediately, before he placed his lips onto mine. It was a sweet kiss. A kiss to assure the both of us that we were still alive. Not one hour ago, we had thought that this would be it, that we would die today, but we had made it out alive. We were happy. We were together. It was a kiss that said there would be other ones. It was a promise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... What do you think? I tried to stay as close to canon as possible, but I just couldn't let Pietro die.   
> Kudos and reviews are always fun!


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All errors are mine.  
> I do not own any of the Marvel characters.

After our kiss Steve left my side again to help the last people on the boat. Clint, with the boy in his arms, hauled himself in the ship, Pietro at his side. They both dropped themselves onto the hard ground after they reunited the boy with his mother. Clint grinned my way, but his eyes were serious, his way of saying thanks for saving his life.

I felt the ramp close up again and a loud thump followed. I looked up and saw that Steve and Bucky had jumped into the shuttle at the last second. Upon closer look, I saw something moving in Bucky’s arms and a dog’s head wriggled out of the brunet’s hold. The mutt licked the soldier’s face, making him smile. 

Steve’s eyes wandered to mine and he pulled himself from the ground, patting Bucky’s shoulder before moving towards me. I propped myself up with my elbows and met Steve’s lips halfway. It already felt like we had done this all our life and should be doing it for the rest of it. I turned on my seat so my feet were on the ground instead of propped onto the chair next to mine, making room for Steve to settle next to me. He did and I nestled my head in the crook of his neck. He placed a gentle arm around my shoulders, as if afraid to hurt me by putting pressure on unknown wounds and played with some of my hair’s locks.

“We made it,” I said, a content smile on my face. He kissed the top of my head and added: “But we lost a lot.” I laced my fingers with his. “It’s not your fault. You can’t save everyone.”

“But who will?” 

I stayed silent. I didn’t know what I could answer. 

“I can’t lose any more people, Skye.”

“I can’t promise you you won’t, but you’re stuck with me as long as possible.” 

He smiled down at me and leaned in for another kiss, when the shuttle stopped abruptly and entered the helicarrier. At the other side the doors opened and the people who streamed into the helicarrier were greeted with agents handing them water bottles and blankets. A few were carried away to the medbay and others got checked for any critical wounds. One of the doctors there was Simmons and she waved at me with a small smile. Then the blonde returned with a serious face to her work. Steve joined Bucky’s side, afraid what Fury might do when he saw the Winter Soldier, the one who tried to kill him. I walked over to Clint and helped him up together with Pietro.

\---

After a quick check up on everyone in the medbay, The Avengers and I walked to the helicarrier bridge where Fury was waiting for us for our debriefing. We seated ourselves at a big round table on the top of two staircases leading down to the control room. 

“How are my favorite Avengers?” Everyone looked up at Coulson’s voice and I stood up to give him a hug. “Skye, I’m trying to be professional here,” he whispered in my ear, but his smile was evident in his voice. I went back to my spot next to Steve and Coulson sat on the chair next to mine. At that moment, Fury walked up the stairs and eyed everyone in the room. His eye went from the Maximoff twins to Bucky and stayed on him. The brunet shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other under the ex-director’s scrutinizing look. Then he sighed and began the meeting. I looked over to Bucky, standing in a corner and saw the regret in his eyes. 

“Even if it’s you guys who started it, good job with stopping Ultron. Are we certain every last one of them, “he said referring to the bots, “is destroyed?”

“I took care of the last one, sir,” Vision said. I still had a hard time adjusting to Jarvis’ change into Vision, but pink Jarvis was nice. 

“Let’s hope we can minimize the dangers now,” Fury said rubbing his head, “we all sure as hell deserve a vacation.”

“I would like to visit London with my dear Jane,” Thor spoke up. 

“Oh, I know a perfect place to eat there. It’s a nice little Italian. I know the owners,” Tony quipped. 

“I still have to check a lot of things off my list,” Steve said, fumbling with his little notebook where he kept his drawings and notes. There’s a drawing of me, of Peggy and the Howling Commando’s. He tried once to draw a monkey on a unicycle, but stopped suddenly and scrapped it. I never understood why. 

“I can help you with that!” I elbowed him lightly in the ribs. His face lit up and under the table he took my hand. 

“I could just use a good vacation,” Clint said, “I promised Kate I would help her redecorate her living room.” At everyone’s raised eyebrows, he added: “What? Redecorating is fun!” and crossed his arms, sinking lower into his chair. 

“A vacation it is then!” Coulson exclaimed, clapping excitedly in his hands.

“Director, you may have other responsibilities, don’t you think, director?” Fury said sarcastically, whereupon Coulson’s face showed disappointment that was soon replaced by understanding. 

“Oh well, my last vacation wasn’t really that great,” he said, glaring at Fury, but a small smile played on his lips. “Too soon?” Fury only chuckled and brushed the remark away, causing Coulson to smirk victoriously. 

“Sorry, AC. But don’t worry, I’ll visit,” I winked, earning a smile from the whole room. If I didn’t know any better, I would have said that even the corner of Fury’s mouth twitched. 

\---

We didn’t go back to the Tower in New York. It was still crawling with paparazzi and now others have joined our team and it would be too much trouble to keep them all in the city. The Tower, after it’s renovation (Ultron broke almost all the top floors) would become Stark Industries’ headquarters, directed by their ceo, Pepper. 

The Quinjet dropped us off at an old Stark Industries’ base which would become The Avengers’ headquarters and training facility. Without giving classified information it was also pretty close to the Playground which would make future team-ups easier. The base was far from the civilised world and was hidden behind trees from the main road. It took a few months before the whole base was done, every superhero had it’s own specialised training room built from old bunkers. 

After the renovations Tony left to reunite with Pepper in New York. Thor was in London with Jane and Darcy. Bruce was on a well deserved vacation somewhere calm in the mountains. Clint had gone to his sister as he had promised and Natasha had joined him for a few days. Rhodey, Sam, Vision, Wanda, Pietro, Bucky, Steve and I were still at the base, minding our own business. Well, every night we would watch a movie to help Bucky and Steve catch up with the 21st century. Each would take a turn to choose a movie which they thought the two soldiers out of time had to watch. We were watching The Little Mermaid, Sam’s choice, when Friday, the new A.I., alerted us.

“I have news from Tony.”

“Well,” Rhodey asked impatiently,”What is it?”

“He’s inviting you all, friday night in New York, to celebrate his engagement to Miss Potts.”

Sam shot up from his seat, sending the popcorn bowl flying through the air. Rhodey started typing on his phone, making everyone get out there phone to congratulate their two friends.

“That son of a bitch, he did it,” Rhodey muttered grinning. 

\---

It was friday night. Tony, much to everyone’s surprise, hadn’t invited a lot of people to his engagement party. The only ones here were the team and some other close friends and family from Pepper. I was sitting at one of the tables, decorated with a white tablecloth and as a centerpiece, a beautiful bouquet of roses in a golden vase that gave off a white-blueish light, a reminder for the iron man. Next to me was Wanda, she was talking animatedly about last night, how she was able to hold several things at once with her powers. Darcy joined us and immediately began talking about her trip through Europe she had done after Ultron. It could have been interesting, if she hadn’t start rambling about unnecessary details. Luckily, Steve came by and offered me his hand.

“Would you be so kind, ma’am, to give me the honor of dancing with you?”

I giggled and placed my hand in his. He pulled me from my chair and spinned me onto the dance floor, where Thor and Jane were already slow dancing. I put my hands around his neck, whereupon he put them on my lower back and I pulled him to me, resting my head in his shoulder. All the tension of the last few days left my body and before completely melting away in his arms, I tilted my head up. For a few seconds, I studied his face, a soft expression in his eyes, and then I rose up on my toes to meet his lips. For the first time in forever I felt like everything would be okay. Steve and I swayed further with the music and It felt like only the two of us were left in this room. I smiled and closed my eyes, breathing in his scent: home.

I will be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So last chapter... I hope you guys loved this story as much as I loved writing it, but it had to come to an end because writing in English, for me, was hard. But maybe one day I'll write a sequel because I loved the small universe I had created and a lot of storylines aren't really finished, but Skye's is. 
> 
> So thank you all for the kudos and the nice comments. Maybe if you give me ideas for a sequel, I'll write it??
> 
> Sincerely yours,  
> Victoria


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